Naruto Red Rose
by 4fireking
Summary: Hen is the son of Hinata. He's like his mother, shy, is afraid to speak his mind most of the time, and even looks like a girl. However, after meeting with the ninja Kino, Hen first goes through the entrance of Team 7, becomes a member and does challenging tasks. Join Hen, his lazy friend Shizen, free-spirit Kokoro, and calm, cool friend Zhen
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I'm going to say this once: I do not own Naruto

I'll try my best in this Naruto story, yay!

**Hello, I'm 4fireking, which means...well, nothing, actually! I've written stories like One Piece The Ultimate Adventure, and even a few one-shot's on FictionPress. This is my attempt at a Naruto story, and I hope it doesn't suck. Also, when thinking of my main character, think of Hinata, only my character is a boy who just looks like his mother in a funny kind of way. **

OOO

Hinata sat down on a chair near her wooden table, trying really hard to sum up an article in a newpaper in her hands. The fact was, Hinata was worried. She found Naruto in the headlines, a picture of him on the right side, and was grieving over him.

She in her late thirties, still having her long hair and busty body as well managed to give birth to her brilliant son Hen who shared her denominator of being shy, still couldn't shake her worriness away. In the paper:

**Hokage Naruto Uzumaki has been missing for over three weeks after requesting to take down the monster of Leaf Village; most presume he's dead. **

" Naruto...where are you?"

OOO

Hen was hard at work. But, it didn't help that he was just plain weird like his mother all-around. His body looked like a boy's but his hair and the softness of his skin made him look like a girl, he fit in like a box of circles that was missing a triangle, and was smart enough to know the only way to fit in would be to cut his brown bobcut hair—but how could he tamper the body his mother left him?

There's people that can understand this misery, right? He's a freak of nature, and his chances of getting along was as good as a snake becoming friends with a lion.

Hen sat away on his desk, had paper, a book and pencil, and worked well away on writing about the geography of Land of Water.

Hen had a previous routine: study, exercise, sleep. Hen's new routine: study, exercise, train for the Team 7 auditions, sleep. Of course, Hen wanted to be a member of Team 7, the team which was originally called Team Kakashi but the leader Kakashi died and so did the team name, and Hen was willing to go despite how embarrassed he would be people think he is a girl. He wanted to do it because of a friend...

OOO

_A Onbaa no bigger than 2'5 without a parent is one that shall not survive—young Hen trembled at the site of the warrior who slayed the mother Onbaa. Her body layed lifeless on the ground, and trickles of blood were dripping from the blades tips. The man was tall, slinder, was wearing a male sky blue kimono that covered his whole body, green rope wrapped around his waist to hold his katana, and plain sandals. His eyes were green, he had long glossy black hair braided in a ponytail, and fangs in his teeth. The man sheathed his katana into the green rope around his waist, and Hen watched as it dangled. _

_The man glanced towards Hen, saw the prodigious fear in his eyes, said in a concerned voice, " Are you alright?" _

" _Yeah," Hen replied; he had a sign of nervousness in his voice. " I guess I got out al-" _

_Hen couldn't see the man coming, he ran so fast too Hen his body disappeared in a puff of smoke, and he slapped Hen across his face. A red bruise mark was left on his cheek, and Hen stared up to see the man glaring at him. _

" _What the hell were you thinking? Are you stupid or something?" The man back to trees behind him, and Hen noticed scratch marks on all the trees. " Onbaa's mark their territories with their claws—all animals are wise enough to avoid those spots. You're lucky I was here, otherwise you'd be killed." _

_The man then heard the whimpering of the baby Onbaa as it whimpered on the body of its dead mother. However, the man wasn't done with his pursual, and took his katana out once again."_

" _W-what are y-you going to do to that Onbaa?" Hen said; his throat was choked with what may come out of the man's mouth next. _

" _What do you think?" The man said raspily. " I'm going to kill it."_

" _W-why?" _

" _'cause if I don't it'll die of hunger. And even if it does live into adulthood it'll have a strong hatred of humans. I'm here to put it out of its misery." _

_The man dashed too where the Onbaa was, raised his katana up for another attack, but Hen passed the man and made a dive for the Onbaa—his body protected it from the man's strike as both he and the beast were shivering from fear. _

" _Get out of the way, kid." _

" _No." _

" _Listen to me kid, what do you think you can do for that thing?" _

" _I'm going to raise it, nurture it and teach it too not be afraid of people." _

_The man raised an eyebrow, said, " You're a fool, kid." The man smirked, and then he sheathed his sword back into his string again. " But I like your backbone. Why don't you, me and your Onbaa pet come join me for lunch?" _

OOO

_Hen and the man both helped themselves to some rice crackers, and they give a dead bird for the Onbaa to eat. The three were finished eating within the hour, and the man turned to Hen, smiled. _

" _We haven't formally introduced myself. My name is Kino. What's your name?" _

" _My name's Hen?"_

" _Hen? Like the flightless female birds? It's funny, you kinda look like a girl yourself." Kino teasingly put a finger in Hen's hair, and spinned it in circles as a mountain of hair came up. " Your hair's soft too. You must be a girl." _

" _I'm a boy!" Hen bellowed, a vein in his head came out. _

" _Y'know, I wonder how many boy's have tried to hit on you, girly?"_

" _None have tried to hit in me." Hen stared mopingly at the ground, then he started petting the Onbaa's fur where it didn't strike back and just stared at him with its not as frighting as its mother's red eyes. " The only people I've ever meet is my mother, my tutor and you." _

" _Really? That sounds kinda lonely." _

" _Yeah, it's forlorn if you ask me." _

" _Do you at least have any aunt's or uncles?"_

" _Well, my mother said she had a cousin named Neji, but he died when he was only 17 years old." _

" _So what do you do for fun?" _

" _Fun? What's that?"_

_Kino flinched. Kino then smiled broadly and pat Hen on his head. " You're a funny little man; don't even know what fun is. Here, wanna see something cool?" _

_Hen nodded his head out of sheer confusing. Kino got off, wiping his pants of any rice cookie crumbs still on it, then walked forward and walked on the water—he literally was standing on the water. Hen couldn't believe his eyes. _

" _Woah! How are you doing that?" _

_Kino spun around, looked at Hen, smiled, " What, this? This is a simple technique for a ninja like me. All you have to do is focus your chakra on your feet this should be a cinch." _

" _Umm...what's chakra." _

" _Oh, just close your eyes and start walking. Believe me, I can sense it in you, you can do it." _

_Hen wasn't so sure about Kino's predicament. The water was transparent; see through, he could see his face and how scared it was. _

" _**It's going to be okay, youngblood," **__Hen's conscious spoke telepathically to him. " __**When you start to feel a sensation surging through you—you seize it! Let your mind be your guide!" **_

_The voice in Hen's mind didn't seem like it came from him, but he nontheless obeyed the voice, closed his eyes and stepped on the water. At first: Hen didn't know what was happening. He felt like he was walking, but he couldn't tell whether it was water or on ground; they both felt the same. _

_Then there was a short ping in Hen's head. He then imagined the stars, a comet of meteor's falling down on him and nearly crushing him under their weight, and how they all just passed through his distracted body. _

_As Hen was journeying through a void of pitch-blackness alone—one thing emerged in front of him, or rather appeared from inside his mind, a flaming beast. _

" _**Wake...up**." _

OOO

_Young Hen's eyes were weary in the sunlight. However, as he spun his body around, he saw Kino on the other side of the lake, smiling. _

" _Kino, look how far you've gotten," Hen awed. _

" _No, no, look how far 'you've' gotten," Kino mused. _

" _I'm sorry, what?" _

OOO

In present time, Hen was still the same boy he was shy, slow, but he wanted to join the new Team 7.

" _In exactly 2 days, you'll be facing trials like you've never seem before. But be warned: there's a chance you may die in this exam. Also, you'll need permission from a parent over 30 in order to participate. Good luck, Hen __Hyūga."_

" Okay, all I've got to do is get permission from mom to participate," Hen said enthusiastically, but then started to mope. " But can I really convince her? Oh god, she'll stick me in a pot and make ramen out of me!"

( A/N: First chapter is up. I had issues writing this one. I originally wanted to make it over 5000 words, but I think it would be better if I kept it short. However, I do however wish for my story to have over 500,000 words altogether like Pokemon Global Adventure. Or maybe over 1000,000 words like in Yu-Gi-oh Gnext. I'll come back to it after a while, and hopefully I can make the next chapter enjoyable to read. Please review, the criticism and comment sare always helpful. Also, by the rate I update, this story may take over 20 years in order to finish.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello, it's me 4fireking. I'm nothing special, and am in fact a slouch. I'm so lazy I couldn't work to save my life. I'm sorry if I left you guy's on a cliff-hanger, but I had to make sure my next chapter had at least a good enough vocabulary. **

OOO

" I said I'd do anything to take the Team 7 exam, but mom's being ridiculous. I remember how she was when I told her: angry. "

OOO

"What? _No! Absolutely not! I refuse to let my precious son become a sweaty ninja!" _

_Hinata's yelling was far from over; her cheeks were red as she glared straight into her scared son's eyes. Hen had every reason to be scared as it was his mother he was facing with. Hen heard the stories of his mother being an all-powerful warrior, but now she's devoted her life to making Hen a full fledge scholar. _

"_C'mon mom! All I want is a chance to prove too you I'm ready!" _

" _No, no, no, no! I refuse to let my baby boy go out into the crude world. Besides, everyone thinks you're a girl, and let's not forget about your studies." _

" _Please mom. I don't care if people think I'm a girl; people have thought that of me ever since I was born. Besides, I can always study from time to time." _

"_But how will I know if you're processing the necessary information?" _

" _Please mom, will you give me a chance, pretty please." _

" _Oh, er, ah, alright. I'll give you one day to fetch me something precious and I promise I'll let you go." _

OOO

" _Deep in the forest is a bush with rare kinds of plums. If you can bring just one of those plums to me I'll give you a ticket to the exam. But I must warn you a terrible rogue Nuiba guards that very bush."_

" There's no need to panic. All you have to do is get that stupid plum. There's no need to—I'M FREAKING OUT!"

Hen's anxiety outweighed his philosophy. Hen was screaming, wailing, he ran around in circles and screamed his lungs out. However, the shaking noise of footsteps ended Hen's dispute. Out of the woods came Hen's Onbaa friend Shiro.

Hen had spent every day nurturing Onbaa ever since he first met Kino. Onbaa was very healthy, maybe even healthier than he's mother, Hen was so proud of him. It was then Onbaa crouched down and soon leapt on Hen as he was giving his young friend a big hug.

" Cut it out!" Hen laughed rather than demand. " That tickles!" Onbaa stopped with its affection and got off Hen's body. Hen soon pat his adult Onbaa friend on his head. " Wanna hear something cool? I'm trying out to be a member of Team 7. Except, I first have to pass mom's test. Sorry but this is something I have to do this by myself."

Hen pat Shiro on his head once again. Hen then took off too his designated area while leaving Shiro too whimper.

OOO

The woods Hen was in was opaque. Hen ventured through the woods without light, his feet dirty from stepping in mud puddles and being terrified of spectral noises in the distance. Hen was thinking for a second about ditching the woods and running back to his cozy home as he breathed in and out to relieve his tension.

" It's going to be okay," Hen said to himself so he wouldn't be so scared. " She only asked for one plum. One. It's not like I'm going to have to kill every single animal in this dreadful forest. Still…I'm so scared."

Hen could hear the sound of small feet scurrying on the branches, and his anxiety increased. He desperately tried calming himself down through whistling and snapping his fingers. However, none of his tricks seemed to calm him in the slightest.

" Hoo!" An owl hooted.

" Ah!"

Hen nearly feel down as he lost control of his feet. However, he regained balance by grabbing a tree around its trunk. Hen was gasping through his mouth and had his hand over his heart. Sweat was dripping down his face.

" O-okay…t-things may be harder than I expected." Hen grieved, gasped, then he smiled. " This is a different turn of events. Being out here's different than what I thought it would be from my books. But that just makes it much more exciting. Now…where can I find that bush?"

Hen inspected more of the forest. He then noticed one thing that was peculiar: there was a trail of purple liquids leading in a trail; Hen found intriguing.

OOO

Following the trail for exactly 5 minutes lead Hen straight to a tree. And right beside the tree was a large green bush with what appeared to be fruit made of pure gold. Hen was reluctant to take one of the fruit out as he feared what may happen if he did.

" Just take what you need," Hen said to himself. "Just take what you need. This is your moment so don't be scared."

Hen was slow, careful as he reached in and plucked a golden plum off of the bush. Hen smiled as he held the fruit in his hands. Hen however couldn't hide the suspicion that someone was watching him.

" _I feel like I need to jump right…now!" _

Hen jumped to the ground as he was nearly hit by a foul swoop. Hen wasn't very athletic but was able to jump out of the claws way. While regaining his focus he noticed the creature to be a Nuiba. The Nuiba was a humanoid creature with a muscular body and very large fists and arms bandaged up from the elbow to the wrists. The Nuiba's skin was bluish-grey skin and some crimson. His face appeared like a mask with two small horns pointing downward. Also, the Nuiba had a scar running through his chest.

" Ah, hi,"

The wild Nuiba attempted to wallop Hen once again but missed as Hen fell back. As the Nuiba continued to wallop his fists towards Hen as he kept backing away from the fists. Hen was quick with his arms but was starting to get tired.

" I-I don't want to hurt you!" Hen cried as the Nuiba tried to wallop him. " But I promised my mother I'd get her this plum, and that's what I'm going to do!"

The Nuiba tried to wallop Hen with his mighty arms multiple times as each one had Hen rolling out of the way. But Hen was also getting tired—his limbs and his legs. Just as Hen feared the fist of the Nuiba was going to crush him under his weight did he hear a loud noise:

" Rowwwwrrr!"

Shiro's showed up from behind Hen and charged straight into the Nuiba. Shiro was especially strong as he it handled itself against the Nuiba as both Shiro's paws and Nuiba's large arms pressed against each other.

" _Oh, what am I going to do_?" Hen thought. " _I want to help Shiro but I don't know what I'm going to do? Oh god, maybe my mom was right! I'm not meant to be a ninja; I'm too much of a coward!"_

"Is_** that anyway to speak**_?_" _Hen's conscious spoke telepathically to him. " _**You have so much potential locked inside of you. All you just have to do is look straight into your heart and see yourself in another perspective.**_"

" _Look deep inside of me_?"

" _**Yes. Believe in yourself. You have so much potential for fame. Yet you keep sobbing over whatnot.**_"

" _Whatnot?" _

" _**I'm sick of hearing this useless chatter you call your life. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and everything will come together.**__" _

Hen was confused at the moment, but listened to the words of his conscious and closed his eyes. Hen soon felt a tingle of sensation throughout his body. Everything was slow and calm as Hen's mind started to drift, and he soon felt a voice throbbing inside his head.

" _**You're one**__. __**Your Chakra and you are one in the same. Looking through your mind…feel your energy inside of you.**__" _

Around Hen a whirlpool of water swirled around him. The water was so stark it alerted the attention of both Shiro and Nuiba. Both animals were surprised by the appearance of Hen as water spinned around him.

" Water Release: Water Colliding Wave!" Hen released a spiral vortex of water. The vortex slammed directly into the body of Nuiba yet was avoided hitting the body of Shiro.

Shiro watched as Nuiba's body was pushed away by the torrent of water. He also saw a whole different perspective of Hen as water surrounded him and his eyes seemed to be glowing red. Shiro could almost feel like Hen's indulgence was gone.

"_**Stop**!__" Hen's conscious said. "__**Mind over matter**! **Let your mind be your guide**! **The desire to stay the way you are is the desire not to be**!" _

A few twitches, aching was heard as Hen's anxiety was severe. Slowly his losing his powers. Eventually all the water around his body left and Hen collapsed on the ground. Shiro crawled up to Hen and picked his small body up with his paws.

OOO

Hen had the golden plum in his hands. Hen was presenting it too his worrywart mother who gently took it away from him too examine it.

" Well…" Hinata said while looking straight at the plum and squeezing its texture. " This is the plum I was looking for. I guess I have no choice…you can go to the exam."

" Really?" Hen said.

" Yes dear. I knew a silly boy from Team 7. He was an oddball…but he had a good heart…just like you."

" What was his name, mommy?"

" His name was Naruto Uzumaki. He was a very important hokage. " Hinata reached down and stroked Hen's girly hair while touching his extremely soft skin. " Maybe someday you too can be a hokage, Hen." Hinata's motherly face turned into an angry snarl. " But you better be a high academic or I'll kill you!"

OOO

There was no other means of transportation where Hen was besides a horse and a carriage. Hen was in the back of the carriage waving good-bye to his mother and Shiro as they were both standing side by side.

_"**Things are going to be so lonely without them**,_" Hen's conscious spoke telepathically as their carriage was moving.

" _Yeah. But it's not like I'm not coming back to her. And maybe I'll bring some friends along with me." _Hen breathed in his mouth and then breathed out. " _I will become a great ninja…like my mother._"

(A/N: Second chapter is up. Like I said, I'll got a long way to go. I'll try to make this story at least 600 chapters before I put it on completed just like in the Naruto manga. I would like to Ayumu-Aikawas for reviewing my story. I'd also like to thank Ayumu-Aikawas and MetroNeko. I hope you two could review what you like/dislike about this chapter. I also think the years for this story is 10 years.


	3. Chapter 3

Like I said, I'm lazy. I just want to finish updating my story as fast as I can, and that'll be the reason the future chapters are going to suck. Once again, I'm sorry I left you guy's on a cliff-hanger. Warning: I've decided to add some humor in this story, and I suggest those of you who are twelve or under skip this chapter and go too chapter 4. Even though you might be confused about the change of scenery in chapter 4, it's best you avoid chapter 3. Of course, there may not be a chapter 4 if I just updated this one. So it's best to wait a week or two when I did update chapter 4 and then come back to this story.

OOO

Kokoro's a sly young woman sighed in indignation—the moment she found all the cool equipment in a weapon shop—she realized she didn't have any ryō with her. Kokoro roamed the shop for anything of use too her. Three minutes later, she found very sharp kunai knifes made of glossy steel. She only had one problem to overcome: persuading the manager to letting her have it.

She saw the manager behind the counter. She walked very slowly up to him, looked into his eyes while laying a hand behind his head, said, " How much is it for the kunai's?"

" 400 ryō ."

" How much for me?"

" 400 ryō ."

" I mean…" Kokoro pulled the owners head down and showed him the cleavage underneath her yukata. " How much for me?"

" A-ah…"

OOO

Meanwhile, Hen finally reached the base of the new Team 7 exams, however found out the exam wasn't until tomorrow.

" Drats," Hen said. " I spent all my ryō getting here. What am I going to do now?" Hen pondered as he rubbed his chin and nervously banged his right foot on the ground, and then he stopped. "Perhaps I'll go find a tree to sleep besides."

Hen didn't think it was possible, but he found a boy a little bit older than him walking through the streets. The boy seemed woozy from alcohol. As the boy walked his cheeks were blush red and he seemed dizzy, but after every step he took he nearly fell down. Hen was intrigued by how much alcohol the boy consumed.

The boy has green hair that is spiked up. He has large, sharp eyes. The pupils are very small and black, although Hen pictured the color to be green. He was wearing green robes with flames patched around and small pigments of trees on his robes.

" That was some party," The boy chuckled while walking down the streets. " Old time reunions truly are the bes—"

The boy fell on the ground from the result of heavy drinking. However, Hen was anxious of how the boy was going to handle himself and decided to help him up—it was all in his best intentions of being like his mother.

" Hold still, sir," Hen said as he grabbed the boy under his elbow and lifted him off the ground. " There you are. Now don't you feel a little better, sir?"

The boy seemed infatuated by Hen's girl-like appearance. The boy nearly kissed Hen's lips as Hen countered by shielding with his arms. As the boy touched the salty bitterness of Hen's pores he sobered enough to notice Hen's physique.

" Hey there, little girl."

" I'm a boy"

" Really? But you're so cute. You're even cuter than my brother's girlfriend."

" I'm a boy."

" I should take you to my brother's birthday and show off how cute you are."

"Boy."

" My name is Shizen by the way. What's your name?"

" Hen."

" Hen? That's such a vulgar name. Makes you sound even more like a girl."

" Well, I'm a boy. And I can prov—"

" Woah, woah, I believe you. But you still seem a little stressed out for some reason." Shizen groped Hen's chest where his breasts would be if he had any and started twitching his fingers. " What you need is a little tickle. Tickle, tickle, tickl—"

" Eeek!"

Hen slapped Shizen's hands off his chest and then he slapped him on his right cheek. After a few seconds, there was a small red mark showing from where Hen had smacked Shizen. Most people would've been hurt; Hen wasn't exactly a weakling, but Shizen just rubbed his sore spot and smiled.

" Geez, I was just trying to be friendly. You don't have to be so insensitive. You just keep being more and more like a girl."

" Have you forgotten? I'm a boy!"

" And I've never been happier to meet someone like you."

" Huh?"

Girls hate me, but that's alright 'cause woman'mass couldn't replace you, doll."

" D-do-doll?"

" Yeah. I just went to a reunion party and thought how cute you're being small and sooth skinned. That reunion was the best; we got to drink lots of gin. Have you ever had gin?" There was no answer as Hen just rubbed his fingers together. " Have you ever had alcohol?"

" Does milk count as alcohol ?"

" Help!" The sound of a young boy yelled. " Please help ME."

Hen and Shizen spun too where the noise was coming from. They saw a small Arab boy with greasy black hair and black eyes wearing nothing but green leaves all over his body grovelling to a very tall man wearing brown robes and bald.

" What do you think that's all about?" Hen asked.

" I have absolutely no clue. But gosh, that boy sure seems to be in distress."

The small Arab boy grabbed the bald figures legs as a single drop of tears dripped from his eyes.

" P-please. Your master is the only one in town who can help my grandfather. Your masters a doctor; why does he refuse to help the people in need?"

The bald figure showed no sign of sympathy nor concern for the small boy. He instead smiled snidely, picked the small boy up by the back of his neck, then swayed him back and forth like he was his toy.

" 'cause you poor bums don't have the money. You're all just a buncha snivelling saps. Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Now get your filthy face away from her before I—"

" Enough!"

If by impulse Hen ran up to the tall bald man and walloped him in the face—his speed and power surprising everyone who watched him. As the man was injured he dropped the small Arab boy, but Hen caught him just in time and ran a few steps away from the man. Hen then gently placed the kid down when he was far enough away.

" Woah…" Shizen said, he then smiled. " You're a badass! That was so COOL."

" Er, thanks," Hen said befuddled by Shizen's random compliment.

" I agree," The small boy said. Hen looked down and saw the boy with a smile on his face. "You're so cool, onii-chan. You're like the cool sister I've never had."

Hen wanted to reply to the boy who he was also a boy, but the cheerful smile in the once sad boy's face just melted Hen's away as he couldn't muster anything. Hen instead just smiled back.

" _Boy…he's going to be in for a surprise_."

" YOU BITCH!" The tall bald man exclaimed. " I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE A GIRL! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Hen could see the anger from the tall bald man as he bared his sharp teeth and the veins in his head popped out. The bald man's feet rumbled as he walked closer to Hen and the small Arab boy. However, Shizen too was fast and managed to sneak behind the bald man.

" Don't you lay a hand on my sister, you bastard."

Shizen raised a tree branch and whacked it behind the tall man's head before he even had a chance to react. It was bleak seeing Shizen behind the tall bald man, but Hen could've sworn that the branch had appeared out of Shizen's hand before he whacked it.

"S-Shizen …"

" Sis, you alright? You were almost killed, you big dummy. But…I'm glad you're alright."

" You two are great, onii-chan's," The boy smiled. " Would you please come with me? I have so much to talk to you about."

OOO

The young seductress Kokoro sauntered around the streets with two steel kunai's In her hands. Kokoro laughed joyously as she moved threw her kunai's in the air and caught them. " My woman 'mass is just SO sexy! Even an old man like him couldn't beat my allure! Hahahaha—"

Two young fast, reckless boys then ran past Kokoro and nearly ran her over. Kokoro fell down and fell in the dirt. Her clothes were dirty and so was her kunai's, but she was only surprised with seeing how a little boy clinged on a green-haired boys neck.

Kokoro then smiled, fox ears came out of her head, said, " Maybe I should follow them. Things might get interesting."

OOO

Hen and Shizen finally reached the house where the Arab boy lived. Hen and Shizen found it to be a small hut, made of weak wood that was easily breakable, quaint, and had a mucky smell that made Hen and Shizen's noise twitch.

Shizen leaned against Hen, put his hand over his ears, said, "This kid lives in a dump. No wonder his father got ill."

" I believe his father suffers from some form of influenza."

" What? What makes you think that?"

" I'm looking at him right now."

Shizen turned his head to where Hen was looking. He saw an old man with short white hair and a white goatee lying on a futon. The old man was sweating all over his body and he was rasply breathing from his mouth. The small Arab boy walked over to his father lying on his futon, kneeled down, and cried besides him.

" Daddy! Please wake up, daddy! Daddy, wake up!"

Hen and Shizen were both speechless watching the little Arab boy crying his eyes out. Hen was disquiet, he thought of him as the little boy and the little boy's father as his mother, shed a tear from his eyes. Shizen however didn't even feign a tear; he found misery amusing.

" I don't understand. That boy looks like a foreigner, but he has a Chinese father. Could he be adopted or something?"

Hen ignored Shizen and grabbed the little boys right shoulder, rubbed it, said, " There, there, why don't you tell me what exactly is going on."

The Arab boy sniffled and rubbed his eyes. The boy then walked to a cupboard, found a sketch book, and then gave the sketchbook to Hen. As Hen was curious about the sketch book he opened the front page. A picture of the Arab boy laughing on his father's shoulders as he carried him. Hen flipped a page and saw the little Arab boy laughing near a dinner table while his father had spilled ramen on his head.

" These are really good. Did you draw these…sorry, what's your na—"

" Dolma. My name is Dolma."

" Dolma? That's a nice name. So, Dolma, did you draw all of these?"

" Yes."

" They're really good. Do you perhaps want to be an artist when you grow up?"

" I wanted to," Arab's dark cheeks tinted red as he diverted his attention away from Hen and stared at his ill father. " Please keep reading, onii-chan."

Hen did as the young boy said and flipped through the pages of his book. More innocent pages of Dolma were seen: Dolma helping his father harvested tomatoes, Dolma sweeping the floors of his father's store, and both his father and him smiling as their heads sandwich hugged a small dog close together.

" _I just don't understand. How can such an innocent boy face so much hardship in his life_?" Hen's hands stopped at one page. The picture had Dolma crying as a man smiled wickedly down on him. The man was lean, wearing a white yutaka with a red napkin tucked beneath it, short black haired, and innocent looking hazel eyes. " _Who is this man_?"

Dolma took his sketch book away from Hen and pointed at the man in the picture. " His name is Doctor Hanon. A few weeks ago all the doctors here disappeared, and Doctor Hanon was the only one left. Most of the doctors would make me work off any medicine that we need, but Doctor Hanon wanted a million ryō. When I tried showing him how much my father suffered, he just laughed at me and kicked my father till he was bored."

" That's awful," Shizen said slightly forlorn. " What type of doctor would hurt his own patients."

" And more importantly, why were you asking for his help earlier?" Hen said also forlorn.

" He is an awful man, but he's the only doctor I left in town! I-I just don't have any other choice. Not only is he the only doctor, but he has every medicine imaginable! What am I going to do, onii-chans?"

Hen and Shizen thought to themselves what could possibly be done, then Hen stood up and walked towards the exit. As he was near the door, he turned around and smiled at Dolma. " Don't you worry about a thing. I'll try to get your father better by all means possible."

OOO

Hen and Shizen were sneaking around Doctor Hanon's compound. The compound was infested with guards much like the one guarding the entrance, but Shizen was light on his feet and carried Hen all throughout the compound.

Hen was observing the area and noticed how all the guards seemed to follow a pattern of the way they moved: move right, move left, move right again, up, down, and move to the right again. All the guards' bodies were well statured and they carried heavy objects with their two hands.

" _This doesn't seem right," _Hen thought. " _Why would a doctor need this many guards_? _He must be trying to hide something_."

"Hey, me giving you a piggy-back ride must mean you're my girl?" Shizen mused as he leapt around the compound, then dropped down and walked towards the entrance. As they were walking, Shizen grabbed Hen's chest and fondled with his man boobs. " A CUTE little boy like you would make an excellent girl for m—"

Hen pushed Shizen's hands away and smacked him across his right cheek. Shizen rubbed the red spot where Hen had hit him and smiled weakly, said, " You may be a boy, but you hit like a girl."

" Shaddup."

OOO

Hen and Shizen sneaked inside the doctors home. There weren't as many guards inside as there were outside, but there was still guards patrolling the area. Hen and Shizen were shrouded by the shadows of the room and sneaked around stealthy.

However, their bodies instantly froze when they saw a guard nearby walk towards their shadows. The guard seemed to be enchanted by a portrait seen even through the shadows. The guard then got bored of the portrait and returned to his duties.

" Is the cost clear?" Shizen whispered to Hen.

" Yep. Now what are we going to d—"

Shizen quickly, stealthy ran past Hen and made his way to the nearest door. Hen blinked as a tick dripped behind his head. Hen also wanted to join Shizen in his pursuit, but unlike him, guards started to show up and stopped him from reaching the door.

" _Darn, what I'm I suppose to do_?"

" _**You could try to make yourself transparent**_," Hen's conscious said to him.

" _Great idea, genius_(sarcasm). _ And how do you suppose I do that_?"

" **You have the ability to control water, do you not. You can use your powers to turn your whole body into a see through kind of water that's transparent to the people around you, and you can sneak inside—they won't even notice you**."

" _That sounds like a good idea. But how do you suppose I do that_?_" _

" _**Make a stance where your standing up straight and keep your chin up. Repeat the phrase**_**: **_**Water Ninjetsu**_**: Armor**_** of the Water Gecko**_**." **

" _You're kidding me, right? Do you really think I can do something like tha_—"

" _**Just do it**_**!**_**" **_

Hen shuddered at the sound of an angry voice inside his head. Hen sighed, groaned, he then did what his voice was telling him as he stood up straight and faced the ceiling. As he was looking up, Hen could see a giant lantern over his head.

" Water Ninjetsu: Armor of the Water Gecko!"

As soon as Hen pronounced the phrase, more people became suspicious of him. However, just as people were walking towards him, Hen felt the faint, tingling feeling of layers of water encasing his body. Sweat dripped from Hen's face as guards stared at him, but they didn't seem to recognise Hen even though he was standing before them.

" Are you sure you saw something over here?" One of the guards said as his eyes squinted in the shadows.

" I'm almost positive," another one of the guards said. " It was a girls voice."

" _Girl_?" Hen growled as he was angry, growling from hearing his taboo word. " _Nobody calls me a girl!_"

Hen punched one of the guards in his face. Even though he punched him, the guards still didn't seem to see Hen. The guard who Hen punched rubbed the spot where Hen hit him that was sore.

" Is something wrong with you, man?" A guard asked out of pure concern for his fellow guard, but the guard brushed him off.

" It's nothing. It just seemed like someone punched me."

" Are you sure? Maybe I accidentally hit you when I wasn't looking. "

" No. The punch I felt was more girly and soft."

" _Girly_? _My punches are not girly. Why does everyone think I'm a girl_? _Do I have to shave my hair and pluck my eyebrows_?"

The guards then returned to their duties. As they were working, Hen sneaked past them and opened the door Shizen ran into. He then slipped through the door, unnoticed, and made his way inside. As he then closed the door behind him, both guards raised their heads and turned around.

" Did you hear something?"

" I don't know. Did you hear something?"

" I don't know."

" Alright then."

The guards continued to pace themselves around the room as they kept their heads up high.

OOO

While he was inside the room, Hen noticed Shizen was sitting and mumbling something to himself as his eyes were closed. Hen was infuriated with Shizen, he left him with the guards, ran up to him and slugged him across his face. Shizen collapsed from the power of Hen's fist, but clumsily rose again and smiled sheepishly at Hen.

" Did I ever tell you how you hit like a girl?"

" Shaddup. Let's just get the medicine and get out of here. "

" Now now, there's no reason for us to think irrational. There's a beautiful aroma in this room. It would be vexing to just ignore such beauty."

Hen was about to slug Shizen in his face again, then he noticed a cupboard with jars of herbal medicine inside. Hen brushed Shizen away and made way towards the cupboard." Fine, be lazy if you want. But I'm going to find the medicine. Just do me a favor and alert me if any guards show up."

" I'll try my best," Shizen saluted Hen with his hand over his head and a goofy smile. " I'll be the best guard you've ever met, Hen my dear gil—"

" DON'T CALL ME A GIRL!"

Hen stomped away from Shizen and stood next to the cupboard. Hen inspected all the jars, read the labels, then opened the glass frame holding the jars. Hen attentively looked at the jars one at a time, then took one jar out. He searched deeper into the cabinet and found rolls of towels he took out. Finally, Hen found a bag of sterilized needles and took them. The needles were his most important item; they were the last ones he was looking for.

" Okay, Shizen, let's get out of here." There was no response at first. Hen turned his head around and didn't see Shizen anywhere. " Shizen?" Out of the shrouded darkness Shizen's unconscious body was thrown out. Hen was aghast by Shizen lying on the ground and ran up besides him. " Shizen!"

Another figure walked out of the shadows and stepped on Shizen's body just as Hen was running to him. The man was Doctor Hanon as Hen saw in Dolma's pictures, slender, tall, and had a creepy smile on his face. The doctor laughed as he continued to step on Shizen.

" Is this you r friend?" the doctor mused as he continued stepping on Shizen. " You should've been more careful with him!"

" Let him go!"

" Oh, a feisty one? You know it's not very nice to bad-mouth your doctors. Especially when they can do THIS!"

Doctor Hanon stomped his foot harder on Shizen's back. Hen stuttered at the sound of Shizen's bones cracking. Shizon cried in agony as Doctor Hanon nearly broke his spinal cord with his foot.

" Stop IT!"

" Say you're sorry for bad-mouthing me. In case you're wondering, I'm the one with all the power. Make one wrong move and I'll snap him in half like a twig!"

Hen was speechless. He's arms and legs were weak. He couldn't move either his arms or his legs, and couldn't usher a sound from his mouth. However, just as Hen was about to give in to Doctor Hanon's demands, he noticed Shizen was still moving. Shizen pushed his body off the ground and smiled at Hen.

" I wouldn't do that if I were you. This quack of a doctor doesn't deserve any recognition from anyone. He's not a doctor. He's just a bully."

" Shut up!" The pressure on Doctor Hanon's foot increased as it crushed Hen under its weight. Hen was frightened, he thought Doctor Hanon was a friendly looking doctor, but the strength of his foot was too potent for him. " I am a doctor! I am the greatest doctor! There is no doctor who is a match for ME!"

The pain of watching Shizen suffer was unbearable for Hen. Shizen's agonizing shriek, the doctors vigorous stomps crushing his back, and Hen not having any power to fight back. Hen felt his body go blank and his mind start to drift.

" _**What are you waiting for**_**? **_**Get him**_**! **_**You're friends life is in jeopardy, so why aren't you helping him**_**?" **

" _I don't know. It feels like all my energy is being sucked out of me…I just can't move_!"

" _**Nonsense. I'm tired of your petty spiel. Maybe you aren't meant to be a ninja like your mother**_**? **_**Maybe you're doomed to live a life of humdrum**_**!"**

" _Stop it_!"

" _**What are you going to do about it**_? _**Are you going to fight me, or are you just going to cower away like you always do**_!"

" _Shut up_!"

" _**You may in time be able to hide your feelings from everyone else, but you can never hide them from m**__—" _

" SHUT…UP!" Water then surrounded Hen's hands. As Hen was fighting, the water intensified and formed a giant ball of water. " Water Ninjetsu: Water Bullet!"

The ball of water at lightning speed was fired from Hen's arms and collided against Doctor Hanon. Doctor Hanon was pushed back by the force of the bullet and fell on the ground. As the doctor was down, Hen ran over to Shizen and helped him to his feet.

" Oooooooo," Shizen groaned as most of his bones were cracked. Shizen then wearily looked up and smiled as the pretty girl-like face of Hen stared down at him. " Hey there, beautiful. What time is it?"

Hen smiled and lightly punched Shizen's arm. " Good to have you back, idiot." Hen without knowing his own strength punched Shizen with too much force. The strength of his arm was too immense that Shizen tumbled over and collapsed. " Eh…maybe I was putting too much force on you?"

" T-this isn't over…" Doctor Hanon stood back up even after being hit with Hen's mighty attack. Water drenched his face and his clothes, but the doctor smiled with a wicked smile. " I still have someone you have to meet!" From the darkness stepped out. The woman had a slender figure and an average height. She had wavy blond hair and blue eyes complete with fair skin. Her attire resembled an upper-class woman, but her outfit was somewhat naturalistic in appearance. Her right eye was covered by a rose eye patch. She was wearing short, strapless shirt made entirely out of dark green petals, and long, dark green gloves that reached the top of her arms. The woman wore pouch-like boots and her left arm and both her legs were adorned by light green thorny vines.

(A/N: Now that I think about it, may not still be running after 10 years. So maybe I should save my stories in a file, separate documents of course and then post them to a new site if Fanfiction does get shut down. Once again, I thank Ayumu-Aikawas and MetroNeko for their support. Some of you might be confused about this chapter, but things will be explained next chapter. I at least hope I can answer all your questions next chapter. Read on too find out.


	4. Chapter 4

**To tell you the truth, this chapter wasn't supposed to be released until 2014 or 2015 if was still up. But luckily I found a very nice author named Depressed Perfectionist**** who's helping me. I don't know how long he'll last, this is a very long story, but I feel happy knowing someone's working with me. I'd also like to thank the nine people who've reviewed my story so far. If I'm lucky, can make this story even more exciting, I'll finally be able to get 100 reviews. But first read this chapter to see if that'll ever happen. **

" T-this isn't over…" Doctor Hanon stood back up even after being hit with Hen's mighty attack. Water drenched his face and his clothes, but the doctor smiled with a wicked smile. " I still have someone you have to meet!" From the darkness stepped out. The woman had a slender figure and an average height. She had wavy blond hair and blue eyes complete with fair skin. Her attire resembled an upper-class woman, but her outfit was somewhat naturalistic in appearance. Her right eye was covered by a rose eye patch. She was wearing short, strapless shirt made entirely out of dark green petals, and long, dark green gloves that reached the top of her arms. The woman wore pouch-like boots and her left arm and both her legs were adorned by light green thorny vines. " This is my wife, Imitalia. Imitalia, meet our trespassers. Trespassers, meet your assassin!"

Imitalia smiled as beautifully as she could after Dr Hannon introduced her. Looking at her , Shizen went all nuts because this was the first time someone beautiful from the opposite sex had actually smiled at him. There were hearts in his eyes as he continued looking at her body.  
"H-H-HOT" Shizen said loudly acting like it was love at first sight and the pain of his injuries was fading away . Watching this Hen sweat dropped. Imitalia's trick was working.

" _The cunning warrior doesn't strike the body or the mind , but strikes the heart," _ thought Imitalia.  
Shizen got up and went towards Imitalia and took her hand in his and recited his so called proposal " My dear, would you do me the honour of bearing my child?".  
" _Looks like their falling for it," _thought Imitalia. Her plan was working pretty well enough. She wanted to get out here as soon as possible. Now all she had to do was keep distracting them  
Hen smacked him and said " WHHHHAATTTT? YOU CAN'T PROPOSE TO THE ENEMY!"  
" Now now, no need to be jealous, doll. There is enough of me to go around," Shizen said with a smirk and ruffled Hen's brown hair.  
" AAAGGHHH ! YOU DIRTY PERVERT! IM A BOY!" Hen shouted hitting him on the head again.  
" Ohh common doll , I know your Jealous," said Shizen again trying to make his point well valid to Hen. He put his hand on his chin and was looking at Imitalia's curves.  
" YOU DIRTY SICK PERVERT! WHY WOULD I BE JEALOUS OF LADY PLASTIC OVER THERE ? AND FOR GODSAKE IIII AMMM AAAA BOYYY! DO I NEED TO PROVE IT ? AND YOU JUST CAN'T FLIRT WITH THE ENEMY! AND SHE'S ALREADY MARRIED!" Hen said with all of breath out of his developing lungs. He finally looked over at Shizen who was drooling over Imitalia's huge breasts and Imitalia was giving him a seducing smile.  
Imitalia twitched when Hen called her Lady Plastic. "_Ohh yeah that hit a nerve all right. That kid is going down Now_!" She thought to herself.  
Hen snapped and said pointing at him with a finger" DID YOU EVEN LISTEN TO ME?"  
At that point Dr Hannon tried to escape as fast yet quietly as he could. Hen noticed him trying to make a run for it. " AAAHHH" Hen said and shook Shizen out of his daze and slapped him. "Look he is escaping. Follow him on the pronto!"  
With that said Shizen went after , but he was stopped by Imitalia who threw a few kunai and shuriken to stop Shizen. Hen moved fast to block the attack. He quickly removed a long, sharp katana that Kino had given him. He blocked the attack efficiently by swinging the sword to nullify the acceleration in the direction of force.  
Shizen just looked back worriedly and asked " Hey, doll, you okay?"  
" I'm fine. Don't worry about me. Just don't let him escape," said Hen assuring with a smile towards Shizen. Seeing that Shizen ran forward.

Imitalia was impressed with the kid. Looks like he was better than she thought. But still she would finish him off fast and kill that mega flirt who was after her husband.  
" Okay, Lady Plastic, you fight me" said Hen with command in his voice.  
Again Imitalia twitched at the comment and laughed, said " Really kid ? Move out or else I'll kill you."  
" No way" Hen said lunging at her with his katana!  
Imitalia easily dodged all of Hen's attacks. Hen kept swinging at her while she kept blocking with a kunai or dodging him. Hen was slowly tiring out. Imitalia ducked under the swing and plunged her kunai upwards towards the katana with full force. Hen's katana was thrown out of his and flew backwards.  
This was her chance. She took a stance and started her taijustu really fast. Hen could not block her attacks. Each of them came with amazing precision and force. Hen still stood his ground after a series of punches and kicks that he barely blocked. Imitalia finally went upwards and punched him in the face causing him fall backward and cough a little blood.  
Hen was feeling pain all over his body. He needed to do something and fast or else the boy's father would die and many others would be infected.  
" See kid, your no match for me," said Imitalia with malice in her voice. It's time to end this even though the kid is entertaining Imitalia thought with a smirk. She made a few hand signs and finally she said concentrating her chakra " Fire style:-Crimson Rage" A huge ball of fire came out of her hands and went in the direction of Hen. All the medicine bottles had fallen and most were broken with their constituents out on the ground.  
_" That was that. The kid is dead for sure_, thought Imitalia as the fire dissipated with a few dark grey fumes . After it was cleared Imitalia couldn't believe her one eye. An unconscious Hen was surrounded by a water barrier while there was a clone of Hen who was holding it up. " _Who is this kid_ "  
Imitalia threw a kunai towards the standing Hen clone yet the kunai went threw him. Then she understood that the standing boy was a water clone.  
" Hehe , time to finish this, ugly!" said the water clone.  
He made hand signs so fast and said " Water style:- Grand Tsunami!" and there was a huge wave of water to follow. Imitalia couldn't stop it with her fire jutsu and was washed away.  
The water clone smirked and descended back into Hen's body. Hen woke up a while after and saw Imitalia on the ground. He wondered how this happened. He stood up and walked over to the broken medicine bottles and picked one up which was intact. Luckily the medicine to save the old man did not break. With that Hen ran toward where Shizen was to help him.  
OOO  
Shizen was following that creep Dr Hannon in full speed. But the guy was too persistent.  
Dr Hannon kept running. He knew another way to get rid of his chaser. He smirked and ran towards a corridor. He kept going until he opened a door and ran inside. Shizen also followed in full speed. When Shizen entered he saw that was behind a dozen of bodygaurds.  
" Alright, young man, let's see if you can go through them," said  
" Hehe you old fart. You're asking for it," said Shizen  
With that Shizen lunged towards the bodyguards with all his strength. He kicked and punched like it was the end of the world. As five attacked him, he dodged and kicked one in the face. The other tried to punch him, he dodged his hand , took his head and banged it on the wall. The third man was punched in the face by Shizen which made a few of his teeth come out. He took out the fourth and the fifth with a stick of bamboo. He used the bamboo against the following three as well and took them out by hitting on the head and kicking the other. There were four left. He lunged at them and hit two on their heads towards the ground with both of his hands. The eleventh guy came who was picked up Shizen and thrown at the wall. The last one was taken down when the bodyguard attacked from behind and Shizen kicked him in the balls.  
was afraid and eeped a bit and begin making a run for it as he saw his carriage come. He quickly sat inside.

" Driver, move!"

The driver of the carriage with Dr. Hanon pressing his head against the back. Dr. Hanon then smiled as he took out a locket with him at a young age, a boy, a girl, and two grown men in the back; boy and girl, as the people in it were his family.

"_ I had an ordinary childhood. I had a brother and sister, and parents who were poor but loved me dearly. I hated them all. As I growed older, my brother and sister settled down, got married, had children, and got settled jobs. They were all a bunch of idiots. I however couldn't stop the lust of blood in my veins. I managed to get a job in a pet store where I would dissect the animals. My favorite game was ripping out one's heart and seeing how long I can keep it alive. But unfortunately the job didn't pay me much, where I had to use my gifted intelligence to move my way up as a doctor. But people stopped going to me as they thought I was too scary. That's when I met my loving wife. She told me how if I can't make the patients go to my hospital, I'd eliminate the other hospitals. That's when I put toxins in the food those fools harvested. Soon, once I escape, my virus will go airborne_! _But it won't hurt me a man like me_! Hahahaha!_"_

"Ohh no you don't!" Shizen said by throwing a few seeds under the carriage. Shizen quickly made hand signs and saw that a tree grew out of the ground underneath the carriage causing to fall to the ground Shizen walked up to Dr. Hanon and found him lying unconscious on the ground, smiled.  
"Hey Shizen!" He heard the voice of a girl but saw Hen running towards him with the medicine bottle. Hen had only a few scratches and bruises on his soft girl like skin. Hen then noticed Dr. Hanon as he was lying on the ground, smiled." Looks like you took care of him."  
"Yeah," Shizen replied.

" Well, we better get moving. We have the medicine, so let's go help Dolma."

OOO  
With that they went to the Arab skinned boy and his father and gave them the medicine. Both Shizen and Hen were thanked for their efforts by the Arab skinned boy. After the medicine was given to the boy's father, Hen and Shizen left.

" Bye, onii-chan's!" Dolma said as he waved good-bye. " Please come back and play with me again!"

Hen and Shizen waved good-bye to Dolma as they both continued walking away. However, Shizen stopped, rubbed his chin, then smiled with a perverted grin.  
" Hey doll, waddya say we go to the hot springs. I could really use a nice soak and some interaction with naked women eh?" asked Shizen dreamily and red tinted on his face. He was picturing the curves of the girls in the hot spring already.  
" EWWWW! YOU PERVERT! we are only going for a soak got ?" said Hen while hitting Shizen on the head. " Honestly, what would you do without me? Okay, let's go."

(**A/N: Well, there may've been a few grammar mistakes, and it may've been a little short, as well having inappropriate content, but what did you think? In case you're wondering, he came up with the name of Dr. Hanon's wife. And yes, she is like Imitalia from the anime show Fairy Tale. I've also been asked by Phoniex32 to test his/her challenge. I've never tried it, but he/she tells me it's lots of fun. With the help of my friend, this story maybe be done in a year or two; three years at most. If you have any questions, please review. Or, if you just want to talk, please PM me. Thank you.)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Time for a chapter with antics between the main characters. I don't count the last chapters because they all had some purpose behind them. But this is just for some insane, stupid stunts between characters that'll make you want to laugh. It also turns out that Depressed Perfectionist is really a girl. Apparently she and I crossed some kind of border, one where the strong pries on the weak ( she strong and me weak), and now she's chewing me out because of it. Well, enjoy this chapter nonetheless.**

OOO

" Oh yeah, we're going to a hot spring!" Shizen cheered joyfully as he and Hen walked into a hot spring building. " Hot spring, hot spring, oh boy do I love hot springs!"

Shizen and Hen walked to the counter of the hot spring building where a woman was standing behind it. Hen's appearance may've resembled a woman's, but he was still a man, and he couldn't help but feel captivated by the gentle look of the woman behind the counter. Her slender body showed offer her waist with long, brown hair and eyes reminding him of tree bark enticed him, and her fair skin had the uncanny resemblance of a gentle old woman who cared for Hen when he was young. Her clothes of white robe with sleeves fold, a sort of dark brown apron and a bright white bandana reminded him of his mother when doing housework and how much he missed her.

" Hello, welcome to our hot spring resort," the woman's voice was so clear, so enamored that Hen's mind went blank.

" Yes, I'm here for the resort with my friend you see behind you."

" So, very young honeymoon couple?" Hen shuddered at the sound of the idea and clutched his fists. " I don't know if we have any mix baths, sir, but I'm sure I can squeeze one in for a couple."

" Really? That'll be great." Shizen turned his head around and smiled at Hen. " And I know a certain someone doesn't mind me peeking at other woman's naked bodies, isn't that right ,darling?"

" YOU SICKO!"

Hen punched Shizen in his face. Shizen's face was smashed under the pressure of Hen's fists, and Shizen collapsed on the ground. As he was down, Hen leaned up to the counter and looked the woman straight in her friendly, motherly eyes.

" I'm a boy. So, can are bath please be an all boy's one, please?"

" Aw, young married yaoi couple. Even though you may never have kids, I wish you happiness."

" Y-yaoi….?" Hen spun his body around and jeered at an unconscious Shizen. " What is she talking about, Shizen?"

The woman then pulled out a single silver key and held it out for Hen to take. " Would you like the key to your honeymoon suite, sir?"

Hen feigned a smile, turned around and took the key from the girl as he smiled at her. " Yes. Thank you for your generosity, miss…"

" Keru. My name is Keru, just Keru. It means: to help somebody."

" Well, thank you for the key, miss Keru. Me and my…husband will be going to our suite, thank you."

Hen walked over to Shizen and grabbed his foot. He then dragged Shizen along the ground as Shizen had a perverted look on his face and fondled the air around him. " Mmmmm. So…firm."

Hen scoffed at the sound of Shizen's voice, said, " Pervert".

OOO

Hen didn't believe it was possible, but Shizen downed twenty bottles of sake without the tiniest bit of constraint. Shizen's face was tinted red from the bottles, his legs and arms were tipsy, and he had a huge smile on his face. Hen however who was beside Shizen buried his face in his hands to hide his embarrassment.

" Did I ever tell you about how me and my brother parted ways because we couldn't live on mutual terms, Hen?" Shizen said. Shizen's voice was tipsy from all the sake bottles his body consumed.

" Yes, I heard this story five times already on our way here!" Hen exclaimed.

" Well I'm going to tell you again, so just be quiet!" Shizen lifted a glass of sake up and shoved it into Hen's throat. The cup was stuck inside Hen's mouth as he couldn't get it out. " My brother wanted me to have an ordinary job like him, but I wanted a career with excitement. A career where I could drink, party and not care about anything! I loved my brother, wanted to be with him, but didn't want the flames of adventure in my heart to die!" Shizen stood on the table, poured himself another glass of sake and raised his hands in the air. " You must always follow what's in your heart!"

" Det shis out sf me! (Get this out of me)!" Hen jumbled trying to get the cup of sake out of his mouth.

OOO

Shizen and Hen then went into a hot spring. Hen and Shizen took their clothes off. They then put placed their clothes in a hamper. Shizen's face was still tinted red from the dozens of bottles of sake, but Hen was sane enough to avoid eye contact with Shizen; he believed Shizen took that as a challenge.

The steam from the hot spring made Shizen and Hen sweat. The water was cool and refreshing. Even though Hen was overly angry a short while ago, the water mde him forget all his vexations.

" This water feels SO good, Shizen," Hen said as he relaxed himself in the spring.

" Not only that but it also can relax your muscles and increase your blood circulation. And they've filed with minerals that help with fatigue and detoxify your body's lymphatic system."

" You sure seem to know a lot about hot springs, Shizen."

" Of course I do. My family used to run a hot spring resort much like this one. It's my hope one day that I'll be able to work in a hot spring just like they used to do. Do you have any plans for the future, Hen?"

" I don't know. I'll probably want to get better muscle build so people will stop comparing me to a girl. I'm tired of people always thinking I'm a girl."

" Why would you not want people to think you're a girl, Hen?" Shizen swam through the water, came over to Hen, then smiled as he leaned in closer to him. " There's plenty of things you'll be able to do with that cute girl body of yours. Like get tips, get meals for free, sneak into a woman's bath when they think you're a girl, and kiss a lonely boy to give him some courage."

" Weren't you ever listening to me? I don't want any of those. I want to get strong, I want to become tough, I want people fear me. I'm just tired of being people's whipping' boy; I'd just want to know what it's like to do the whipping.

Hen and Shizen went back to sitting in the hot spring. Hen had a towel wrapped around his chest as he stood up, and splashed the water over him. His towel became transparent when wet and his nipples were visible to the naked eye—ones that were okay for being men's. Hen and Shizen were relaxing until they heard a sound…

" What was that?" Hen said, as anxiety rushed in his head.

" What?" Shizen said slow, calmly.

" I thought I heard people laughing just now."

" It's just the people next door. There's nothing for you to be afraid of."

" I guess you're right." Hen dipped his head in the water of the hot spring to relieve his tension, but stood up again. " There it is again! It sounds like…girls laughing."

" Girls laughing? That can't be possible. We're in the boys hot spring." Shizen pulled a thin piece of paper out. On the paper were the numbers: 100. " See. I checked to make sure this was the same room before we went in. We've got absolutely nothing to worry about."

" Wait… let me see that." Hen paddled over to Shizen and swiped his piece of paper from him. He then flipped the paper upside down as he noticed something fishy about the tilt of the one. Hen himself gasped at the numbers: 001. "Dammit, we screwed up!"

" What do you mean?"

" We're in the girls hot spring!"

" What?"

" Weren't you listening to anything Miss Keru said over dinner? She talked about how the hot springs were layered into three groups: 000-010, 100-110, 200-210. The 000's is the boys hot springs, 100's is the girls hot spring. And I don't need to tell you that the 200's is the family hot spring."

" So…we goofed up?"

" YOU GOOFED UP!" Hen jeered at Shizen as the sound of footsteps came closer and closer. A single drop of sweat dripped from Hen's face as his mind raced for an answer. " What are we going to do?"

" We? You're on your own, doll."

Shizen jumped out of the hot spring ( covered by a towel) and disappeared in a flash of smoke. Hen's mind was racing for an answer. There was only one way in and out of the hot spring, and the room around him was nothing but a wall of rocks.

" _What should I do_?"

" _Sink yourself into the water_," Hen's conscious told him.

" _What_?"

" _The water's your only safe haven. It'll hide you long enough for you to make your escape." _

" _Well…I don't have a choice_!" Hen took a deep breath. He then dunked his head into the water. Blurring sounds echoed in his ears as the sound of laughter was heard above the water. Hen feared he may soon drown from lack of oxygen, but for some strange reason he was breathing normally. " _How can this be?"_

" _Your body has been trained in the ninjetsu of the Water. Your body can handle it, but it won't last forever. You'll need to resurface sometime." _

" _Thanks for the memo. Now do you have any insight of how I'm going to get out of here_?"

" _Yes. Be very patient. Wait it out." _

Hen waited patiently in the water as girls were above him and laughing. The surface under the water was translucent, Hen making out images of the girls bodies, but only faint beige images that resembled skin. Hen couldn't help but be examine the images.

" _I really shouldn't…but looks at the curves on that one._ _And check out that one's waist. Not to mention the…have I really become just like Shizen_? _I better stop my blabbering before I go too far."_

" _Did you hear about this Team 7 exam_?" The voice of a girl echoed in the water.

" _Yes," _another girls voice echoed in the water. " _But did you guys notice the ninjas in the last exam_? _There was this rowdy person named Naruto. _

" _Thee Naruto_? _The same Naruto who's defeated Gaara, __Kabuto_, _and __Madara_?"

" _I hear he needed help from his friends in some of those. I hear the rest of Team 7 was a girl with pink hair named _Sakura Haruno_, outside of Team 7 there was s_ome_ slacker named _Shikamaru who helped out the members of Team 7_, and a fat kid who admits he's chubby named _Choji Akimichi_." _

" _These girls are just so chatty," Hen's conscious spoke. " It looks like we'll have to change that."_

_The temperature of the water changed. It turned from a sizzling hot spring into a cold spring, the water turning cold, and the sound of shivering echoing in the water. _

" _I-it sure has gotten Cold_!" _one of the girls shivered. _

" _B-but this is a…hot spring. H-how can the water be so…cold_?"

" _I don't know about you but I'm getting out of here_!"

" _Me too_!"

Hen counted to 10 in his head just _to _make sure the girls were gone. As they were gone, Hen resurfaced from the water and breathed in large amounts of air.

" I-don't-want-to-do-that-again!" Hen told himself as he gasped for air. Hen lost balance in his legs and was forced to crawl on the hot stones. Hen's hands burned from the head of the floor, but he omitted soothing the pain as he crawled to the nearest towel. " Okay, I'll just take this towel, recuperate from my shock, then I'm going to KILL Shizen!"

Hen tugged on the towel. However, the towel was stuck in place. Hen pulled even harder but still wasn't able to get the towel out. Hen overlooked the pain in his legs and stood on the towel as he tugged with all his might.

" Now now, let's not get ahead of us, dear."

Hen shuddered at the sound of a woman's voice. Hen fell over as his legs lost their balance. Hen was frightened to see another girl still in the room, seeing him in his feeble state, but felt calm seeing the girl before his eyes. Hen was captivated by the sight of the mysterious girl. She was slender, had fiery red-orange hair down her head, and a forehead protector with the kanji symbol of fire 火 was on it. The way her body sweat from steam, her hair moistened and soggy, and her slender, curved physique.

" Um, I'm sorry, I must have passed out," Hen lied as he fiddled with his fingers. "This is all just a big misunderstanding. My stupid FRIEND must've dropped me in here as a practical joke; he knows I'm able to breathe so long. You understand, right?"

The girl didn't seem to be in the slight bit vexed by Hen being in the hot spring. Her face was placid, she smiled as her teeth gleamed at Hen, and she had her arms pressed up against her cheek. The girls entire persona seemed fixated on Hen.

`` It`s you isn`t it? You're the one."

Hen's cheeks tinted red from the sneer of the girl. " I don't know what you're talking about, but could you ple—"

" Don't play coy with me, doll. I know who you are. You're the one who stole from a doctor and desecrated his wife."

" W-what?"

" I must say, I'm deeply impressed."

" W-what?"

" You could've fooled me, that girly face of yours, how small you are, and how fidget you are, but you've got quiet the skills in fighting. Ergo, you are a strong man. And I want to see for myself just how strong you really are."

The girl then pulled out a steel kunai with a dull tip. In a flash, the bottom of her towel was cut off, and as Hen looked at his arms he could see a white cloth tied around his right arm. He looked at the girls arm and found a similar cloth wrapped around her right arm; a mirrored reflection of Hen.

" _What is on this girl's mind_?"

" How about you and me play a little game. The rules are quiet simple: the first one to knock the cloth of their opponent wins. You can use hands, weapons, or any other piece you can muster. Death is also not allowed, but that's not to say it just won't happen to you."

Hen was caught off guard by the prowess of the girl, and fell prey to her speed. She had unimaginably godlike speed. In a blink of an eye she was in one corner, and back to another corner the next. As he was caught off guard, the girl slashed her kunai in Hen's right arm. Blood trickled out as Hen was in too much shock to react.

" _How is she doing that_?" Hen thought. " _I've never seen someone move so fleetly in my life_."

Hen attempted to kick the girl as he sensed her close to him, but she evaded his move and appeared on the entrance of the hot spring.

" Nice try, hotfoot," the girl sneered. " And here I was thinking you were special. Guess my woman's intuition has dimmer."

" Dammit, how are you doing that?"

" Are you sure you should say such obscene words from that pretty little face of yours. Well, I guess it can't be helped when facing my very special technique. It`s my Flicker Technique. Usually I have to disappear in a puff of smoke before doing it, but you probably can't see me moving with the mist from the steam bath. And since there isn't much space here, the amount of chakra required is low. "

" Flicker Technique, eh? _I think I might have just the technique for it._"

The girl moved at an incredibly fast pace. Her movement's weren't seen by Hen's naked eye. As she was running, Hen grabbed a bucket behind him and splashed the water out. The girl tripped on the bucket, and toppled over as her foot was caught in the bucket.

" No!" She yelled as she hit the floor. " How? I maneuvered you perfectly."

" Not quite," Hen sneered and pointed his finger at a water puddle below the girls feet. " Your technique may vitalise your movement, but you forgot about sound. When you touched the water you made a splash, and that gave me a moment to find out where you are."

Hen expected the girl to be angry at him, but she still sneered at him. Hen clenched his fists. " You should really take a good look at yourself, my little." Hen was shaken. He looked down and saw multiple cuts with blood trickling out of his body. However, there was no blood on the cloth around his arms. " So far I've been toying with you. My kunai I used was strong enough to cut your skin, but is too dull to penetrate any deeper."

Hen was too mutilated by his multiple scratches to speak. He however still had control of his arms and legs. The girl dashed at an incredible speed, again. Her speed however was outmatched by Hen's intuition noticed where she moved by the splashes on the ground and tripped her.

" That trick won't work on me twice. "

The girl was lying on the ground and was rubbing her temple. The girl jeered at Hen as she was below him. However, she then jeered.

" Of course, I wouldn't expect anything less from a genius like you. Tell me, was it you that operated on that boy's father? That was pretty lavishing how you handled it. Tell me, did you make sure those needles were sterilized."

" Wait, how could you possibly know all that."

" It's because I was there. I was staring at you all that time. I even followed you to this hot spring just so we'd meet. But I'd look suspicious if I went alone, so I persuaded a few girls to come with me." The girl did a handstand and then did backflips until she was on the other end of Hen. She sneered her teeth and clapped her hands together. " My name is Kokoro. Kokoro Huǒ. And I hail from the The Land of Fire."

A kanji symbol 火 for fire appeared above Kokoro's head. As her hands were clapped, her body was surrounded by flames. Hen was anxious about the flames around Kokoro's body. Hen tried walking away, but the wounds around his body exuded small trickles of blood out.

" _I can't move_! _My legs…they just won't move_!"

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

A massive orb of roaring flame was released from Kokoro's body. The giant fireball headed towards Hen and created a small crater in the floor. The vibration shook Hen and paralysed him with fear as he felt his arms and legs were stuck.

" _Idiot_!" Hen's conscious yelled. " _Move_!"

" _I…I just can't_!" Hen thought to his conscious as tears nearly dripped from his eyes.

" _Mind over body_! _You'll never go far if you're still afraid of a simple move_! Now, just take a deep breath and sort out all your options!

" _Sort out…all my options_?"

" _You'll see what I mean.__"_

" _Think of all my options…_That's it!"

Hen waited until the orb of flames was close to his face, then tumbled backwards and fell into the hot spring behind. Hen splashed into the water and the orb exploded above the entrance of the hot spring, and ironically there was no serious damage.

" Pretty smart thinking," Kokoro sneered as she stood over the edge of the hot springs water. " But also pretty stupid. With injuries such as yours, there's no way you'd surviv—"

SPLASH!

A geyser of water erupted from the hot spring. The shadowy outline of Hen was in the center of the water. Kokoro was shocked by the ferocity, rate of the water. Then, the center of the water was cut in half and Hen showed himself. His wounds were healed, his chest was shown but his pants were still on, and a look of anger was on his face.

" Water Style: Giant Vortex Jutsu!"

The water acted on Hen's impulse and sloshed towards Kokoro. A giant wave slammed into Kokoro and drowned pushed her back. Kokoro felt her lungs about to burst from the pressure of the water. The water then dispersed and Kokoro was freed.

" _What a relishing rush," _Kokoro thought as she was lying on the ground. " _Never have I felt so much joy in fighting." _Hen stood over Kokoro. She smiled at the sight of him looking at her. " Ready to take your revenge, eh? Go ahead. Finish me."

Hen had Kokoro's kunai in his hands. He glared down at her with her kunai pointed at her neck. He then slide her kunai down, placed his wrist beside her, and slashed the cloth off. However, he slashed both his and Kokoro's cloth out instead.

" It looks like we've reached a stalemate," Hen said as he raised the torn up pieces of cloth off the ground and tossed them to the ground. " Neither me nor you are the winner. Why don't you wallow up what's left of the hot spring water."

Hen shrugged Kokoro off as he made way for the exit. Kokoro was still dazed by her assault with Hen, but she cracked a smile watching him walk away. " My own relatives ostracized me, everyone resented me, but you actually showed me mercy. I idly love people like you. And I await our reunion at the Team 7 exam.

OOO

Hen broke through the door to the suite he and Shizen were staying at. He saw Shizen loafing on the futon, his cheeks still red from his drinking, stomped up to him and punched him in the chest.

" YOU IDIOT! YOU LEFT ME TO DIE!"

Hen pulled his leg back and kicked the side of Shizen's body. Shizen was flinged forward by the foot' mass of Hen's feet and slammed against the wall. The wall cracked from the force of Hen's body. Hen however ignored Shizen's injuries and stomped over to his futon as he laid on it. Hen then sighed at the memory of Kokoro.

" Even though she tried to kill me, she's the first woman I've ever loved. I hope that someday I'll be able to meet her again."


	6. Chapter 6

I'll be honest. The whole concept of this chapter goes to Depressed Perfectionist. I was really busy so I didn't have much time to look it over. I hope you all enjoy it all the same. When reviewing, please tell me who you think is your favourite character and why. It'll help me understand what I need to change about them.

Today was the day of the exam.

Hen was nervous out of his wits. Shizen however was muttering something about how kunoichi's have the best curves. They kept walking. Hen was having thoughts on whether he would survive or would he be killed or other presumptuous ideas.

"HAPPY THOUGHTS! THINK HAPPY THOUGHTS!" Hen was continuously saying in his head. They finally reached the examination area and they were half an hour early.  
Then finally when Hen was partly sane he saw Shizen wink at the group of kunoichi's. The kunoichi's glared at him and walked away. This irritated Hen to no ends, this pervert was checking out women at a time like this. Hen slapped Shizen on the head extra hard and said " YOU LOUSY PERVERT STOP WINKING AT WOMEN AND HELP ME ACE THIS EXAM ".  
" Hey what do you think you're doing? The women are more important. "Replied Shizen.  
" NO THEY AREN'T"  
" YES THEY ARE"  
" NOOO"  
" YESSS"  
" NO"  
"YES"  
A man hidden in darkness smirked at what the two men were doing. He had a plan. Those two would be perfect to try his new concoction.  
OOO  
Hen made Shizen finally shut up by giving him a series of slaps. That was good exercise thought Shizen as he watched Shizen give away whiny emotions.  
Finally a young teenage ninja approached them. He had a pair of glasses. He had a light complexion and purple eyes with chocolate brown hair. He smiled towards them.  
" Are you going for the Team Seven exams?" asked the mid lengthen man with a smile.  
" Yes I am" replied Hen in a sweet tone.  
" Good to know. My name is Wakaba. I am going to be helping out in the exam." Replied the man kindly.  
" Nice to meet you Wakaba. My name is Hen and this is Shizen" said Hen politely. The man seemed nice and quick to respond.  
" Hmm. So are you prepared? You must be pretty powerful to participate. Only very powerful people are allowed for this exam after all." Said Wakaba with a smirk.  
" Ughh umm ... I am not very powerful." Replied Hen nervously scratching the back of his head.  
" Really? Maybe your just being modest? After all all the participants are chunin level or higher. They are masters in either Genjutsu , Taijutsu or Ninjutsu." Lied wakaba.  
This scared Hen , he knew he was nowhere close to being a full fleshed chunin. He gulped.  
" I am nowhere near that, all I can do is some water Ninjutsu. I suck at Genjutsu while I'm good with Taijutsu" said hen with fear and nervousness.  
" well kid , you know I can help you out since you are a friend in need" said Wakaba with the most trusted look he could muster up.  
" Really?" asked Hen  
" Yes" Wakaba said. He removed a bottle of some kind of liquid from his cloak. " _This liquid is actually gonna be the end this kid_," thought Wakaba." You see this liquid is a chakra enhancer. It`ll enhance your chakra enabling you to do better and stronger jutsu. It will also help your body become lighter increasing your overall speed. One drink of this and you may stand a chance." Explained Wakaba  
Hen didn't know what to do. Should he drink it or not? If he didn't he wasn't closer to coming towards his dream. While if he did he would be. ``_Losing is not an option,`` _ thought Hen as he took the bottle out of Wakaba's hands and opened bottle cap. He looked at it and put the bottle to his mouth to allow the liquid to flow. Something about this liquid made it feel bad. There was something wrong. His instincts told him not to drink it and with that he spit it out. He obeyed his instincts.  
He observed that the liquid spilt on the ground went from marble white to dark purple that indicated poison. He looked a Wakaba and before he could say anything Wakaba made a few hand signs and teleported out of there.  
OOO  
The examination buildings doors were open. The participants had started going inside. Hen and Shizen were both walking inside. They went to the registration counter and got their IDs. Hen decided to go and see the schedule board which was around corner and told Shizen to wait. Hen walked near the board. The exam was supposed to start in half an hour. There were alot of jonin and chunin around preparing. As he made his way back he saw Shizen holding a hand of a busty blonde women. She wore ninja attire and looked like a chunin but much younger than Mr. Pervert over there who was busy flattering the women.  
" Marry me my love" said Shizen to the blonde and kissed her on the back of her hand. Unoticed by the girl who was busy blushing that Shizens other hand had just started to grope the girls` cleavage. The girl gasped and smacked Shizen and then beat him to a bloody pulp before leaving. Shizen got up with a black eye.  
" what do you think you doing ?" asked Hen  
" Ummmm" replied Shizen laughing nervously.  
This made Hen sweat drop and give a big outward sigh.  
Shizen just opened his mouth to retort to Hen. Hen just glared at him and said "Save it" very coldly and began walking with Shizen following very closely.  
As Hen went towards the entrance of the arena where the first part of the exam was supposed to begin he saw a bunch of men groping the huge cleavage of a woman as the lady took money. When he saw the women it was no one other than Kokoro. She had a flushed expression. It almost looked like she was enjoying herself. Shizen also ran toward her to get his turn for groping. Kokoro finally noticed Hen and threw away all the men. She ran forward to give him a hug making Hen's face land and sink on her cleavage. Shizen and all the other men wanted to be in Hen`s place.  
Hen struggled to get out. After a few efforts of pulling his head. He got his head removed. He turned around to see a man standing in the corner away from everybody else. He walks towards him.  
Hen notices that he is a tall and muscular young man with long, spiky black hair, which is usually kept slicked back, revealing his forehead. He has red eyes. with slitted dark pupils and no visible eyebrows. Most of his exposed body is covered in sets of simple, round studs. The most visible studs are on his face, with three of them above each of his eyes, three on each side of his nose, and two on his chin, just below his mouth. His ears are adorned by two sets of five. He also sports four studs on each of his forearms, with his right one being covered in scars. his canine teeth are distinctively sharper than normal. usual outfit consists of a shabby, black, sleeveless tunic with studded edges, with a studded belt around his waist, loose whitish pants tucked inside studded black boots, and a pair of studded brown gloves paired with similarly studded wristbands. He also sports a distinctive wing-like ornament, seemingly made of feathers jutting upwards, over his right shoulder, attached to his tunic by a large stud.  
Hen approaches and asks him " Hey why are you standing out ? The fun is there" pointing to the direction of Kokoro , Shizen and all the other men groping her as well as other ninja's talking and smiling.  
The man just looked at him and said," I don't like crowds."  
" Well my name Hen. I'm pretty shy so I escaped from the hell hole," said Hen  
" Aa. My name is Kei." Replied the man and nodded his head with acknowledgement.  
" So are you participating in the exam as well ?" Asked Hen.  
" Yes I am," said Kei. From what Hen could make out was that Kei wasn't all that talkative. He was the isolated type. But what brought him here he looked pretty strong anyways.  
" Why are you doing this exam ?" Asked Hen out of curiosity.  
" To test my limits" said Kei uninterestedly and walked away. His answer was pretty weird for a normal ninja. Usually they talk what people understand. Hens thoughts were interfered when an announcement was made for the commencement of the exam.  
OOO  
All the participants were lined up in order to their ID numbers. Than a beautiful lady entered. She had green emerald eyes and pink hair.  
That was Sakura Haruno, everybody gasped and looked shocked. It was THE Sakura Haruno who was the famous mednin of Team Seven. She was known for her monstrous strength and powerful medical skills.She was the godiame hokage's pupil. The only female in Team Seven was known to inherit not only the temper but also the beauty of the Godiame.  
Sakura looked at everyone and smiled. Every person flushed while the girls looked at her in admiration. She was what every kunoichi wanted to be.  
" Hello, I am Haruno Sakura as you all know. I am going to be the one to tell you today's exam. You are to climb the wall present inside the arena in a matter of twenty minutes. Those who succeed will move on to the next round. Good luck" Said the lady in her sweet melodic voice.

Sakura lead everyone into a room. The room was quaint, full of space and had a wall made of dozens of logs reaching almost to the top. The wall shined from reflective light.  
All the participants were positioned. When the proctor said BEGIN. The clock on the wall started counting down from twenty. Hen saw that many people were trying to begin. One used his hands but instantly slipped. Hen saw that and put his hand on the wall to find some sort of invisible oil on his hand. He knew only one way of doing this. He needed to concentrate chakra on his legs and use them to move over the wall. Chakra concentration was something he was never good at. He tried his technique and made it half way but fell down.

" _What am I going to do_?" Hen thought on the ground. " _Maybe I'm just not cut out to be in Team Seven_. _My mother wasn't in Team Seven, so why should I be the one in it_? _I'm sorry, Kino, but I don't think I'm cut out to be—": _

Hen got a glimpse of Kokoro and Shizen. Shizen didn't have any special tactics, just using his hands to climb, but was able to hold onto the wall. Kokoro was also climbing the wall but was facing the people below. Hen thought it was strange, but it almost felt like she was smiling at him.

" _That's right. I have friends now. Sure, they have their quirks, but they're my friends all the same. And I won't let them down_."  
Ten minutes had already passed while he was half way done. Some people were already done. He knew he needed to finish this fast. He summoned all his chakra in his foot and thrusted upwards. He finally finished at 18 minutes on the clock; two minutes remaining. When the time was up. The proctor announced the names of the people who passed the test. Hen's name was called out.  
A sigh of relief escaped Hen. The exam was over. He passed. So did Shizen, Kokoro , Wakaba(much to his horror) and Kei. Hen walked out the front entrance, and then he was hugged behind by warm, manly hands.

" I knew you could do it, my darling prince," Shizen said flamboyantly. " Now let's celebrate your victory with a little fun."

" Hey, wait for me," said Kokoro as she ran up behind and joined Hen and Shizen. " I'm thinking of hanging out with you guys. You guys are so much fun."

" Ooh!" Shizen laughed. " Of course. We needed a girl in our group."

" Group?" Hen asked. " When did we ever have a group?"

" Since the day we first meet, old friend. Now Mr. Stiff and I have a girl, ya!"

" Wait, we can't have a girl. It wouldn't be any go—"

Shizen and Kokoro cut Hen off at the same time. They sandwiched hugged Hen by squishing their bodies near Hen's cheeks. Hen squirmed to get out, but he was too tired from the exam. He then felt the strange feeling of something licking him, and soon found out it was Kokoro who was licking his cheeks.

" Um, why are you licking me, Kokoro?"

" I just like licking things. You don't have a problem with that, do you, my sweet prince."

" Ooh! Sweat prince, ya! We're going to make a great team together. "

" NO!"

(A/N: It's kind of an anti-climatic ending to the exam. But that was just the first segment. There'll be more to the exam on a later basis. I'll try making the next chapter longer. But it'll mainly focus on the antics of the characters and an introduction to a new character:) Hope you enjoy him/her.


	7. Chapter 7

Now this is a chapter with antics. Nothing serious, but just some mindless fanatics that will make you want to laugh, or get your adrenaline running. If you're reviewing, then tell me what was good/bad about the chapter. If you're wondering who is writing the puns, it is Depressed Perfectionist. I write the fighting and she writes the puns. And I'm not writing this to be chummy to her; I'm just giving credit where credit is due. I'll try updating soon.

OOO

A high class businessman, his guards and a carriage that as pulled by two horses journeyed through the streets of Leaf Village late at night, where some guards used lanterns connected to their weapons to see. The guards would never go against their masters' wishes, and followed their the man in charge of keeping track of all their assets.

" We should be getting close, my fellow ninjas," the high class businessman announced as they turned a corner in the streets. The pathway became more narrow the further they travelled. " I'd like to take this moment to tell you how nothing can stop us. There's not a person now who can stop such powerful guards like yo—"

" Ooh, really?" The sound of cold voices said in unity.

" We'll just have to see about that."

From the darkness appeared the most perplexing looking men the businessman had ever seen. They all wore crimson red yukata's with kunai blades hanging from their waists. Each wearing traditional geta sandals and wearing different kinds of animal masks over their heads.

" I hear you have something of value with you, oldster," one of the ninjas wearing a graffiti fox mask said.

" Why don't you hand it over to us, the Yósho Clan," another member said who was wearing a canary mask.

" Quick, employer, get behind us!" The captain of the cards shouted as he and all his other guards went into a hotel around the businessman. Each guard unsheathed different types of katanas: katana, tachi, wakizashi, and nodachi

The started where all the guards charged at the bandits. However, as one guard prepared to strike, he was easily overpowered by one of the bandits, where the bandit chopped him with his hand behind the guards neck and the guard collapsed. Two more guards charged at the bandits. Both raised their katanas up high, striked, but had their weapons caught by the bandits instead.

" W-what?"

Both bandits pried the katanas out of the guards hands and striked them in their stomach. Blood squirted out from them being slashed with the sharp blade of the katana's. Both bandits keeled over, groaning, then collapsed on the ground, dead.

Only the captain of the guard and the high class businessman were left. The guard made sure he was willing to risk his life on the captain.

" Stay behind me," the captain said as the businessman shaked like a coward behind him.

The creaking sound of footsteps was heard in the distance as the bandits crept closer and closer to both the guard and the businessman. The anxiety made both of them sweat through the glands on their heads.

The business man knew it was futile—he knew the hordes of bandits would overpower the guard and they'd be after his head, so with the last moments he raised his key up high.

" Stay right where you are!" The businessman shouted alerting all the bandits how the key was in his hand. " Don't any of you take one more step! Take another step and I'll—"

Before the businessman would say another word, one of the bandits disappeared, reappeared in a cloud of smoke then raised the businessman's key over his head. Every one of the bandits laughed after the bandit played with the key.

" You're an idiot! We're the Yósho Clan! There's no way you'll be able to stop u—"

From the shadows a large beast jumped out and snatched the key away. The guard, the businessman and even the bandits were surprised when the thing that took the key away was nothing other than a giant black dog. A dog with fur black as night, toenails as silver as steel, and a red nose on its small nose. Clutched in the dogs mouth was the businessman's key.

" Hey, that stupid dog has the key!" One of the bandits shouted.

" Let's catch him, get our key back, and make dog meat out of him!"

" Yeah!"

Every bandit dashed too the dog. The dog however noticed their odd behaviour and ran away from them at an incredible speed. The guard and the business man could only look all-struck as the bandits soon disappeared from them. The wind blowed down on them as they were now alone.

" Well, that was weird," the guard mumbled.

" I think I should file a complaint."

" Yeah, maybe you should."

OOO

The bandits had the black-furred dog corned. In the center of a small bridge, cornered, trapped, the dog was surrounded by the bandits as they sneered at him. One of the bandits raised a kunai at the dog as he smiled.

" I'd like to say good-bye to you, my fuzzy little canine friend. Men, time to eradicate hi—"

" Rowf!"

The dog had instinctively leaped on top of the railing of the bridge and jumped off the bridge. The bandits could only watch as the dog fell into the river and was swept away by the river—going down at an incredibly fast rate.

" Well, somebody jump in there and get that dog!" One of the bandits, the leader, shouted.

" Are you kidding me?" Another one of the bandits said. " That's roaring water. Who knows what'll happen if we fall in."

" Fine! We'll just run to the end of the sea. Maybe we'll find something there."

" Impossible. It's too dark and there are too many trees. We'd end up hurting ourselves more than actually finding something. Er, I'm sorry to have to tell this, leader, but we'll have to wait until tomorrow."

" Very well." The leader angrily took a small kunai blade out, then stabbed it against the surface of the wood. " We hunt tomorrow."

OOO

There was three days until the next segment of the Team 7 exam. Hen and Kokoro decided to do a little sparring training before the exam. Hen and Kokoro were going head to head, punching their fists at each other at an incredibly fast rate, but neither hitting the other.

" You're pretty good at hitting people, for a little girly boy!" Kokoro laughed as she moved her fists, which were clashing against Hen's knuckles.

Kokoro leg sweeped at Hen, but he punched over her and attempted to punch her squarely in her face. But as Hen was close to her, she cross-blocked his arms, smiled. With what little time he had, Hen jumped back by pushing his legs against Kokoro's arm and somersaulted back.

Standing, staring at Kokoro, the kanji 水 appeared over his head and the fire symbol火 appeared over her head. Water was then released from Hen's fingertips as fire was released from Kokoro's fingertips. Both attacks collided together, then dispersed.

Hen and Kokoro were both exhausted. Most of their chakra was drained from the long sparring session. Hen and Kokoro both smiled as they were too exhausted to move.

" I want to… continue fighting, Kokoro," Hen mumbled as he sweated heavily.

" Are you...kidding me?" Kokoro mused smiling weakly. "We've been going at it for an hour. Maybe we should take a break."

Hen and Kokoro both laughed together. Hen crouched down and laughed out loud. Kokoro just smiled and chuckled to herself. As they were smiling, Shizen sneaked up behind Hen and Kokoro with a bag of rice in his hands.

" Hey guys, I've got dinner ready for you."

" Ooh, goody, goody, goody!" Kokoro laughed mirthfully as she skipped to Shizen and stared at the bag. " Looky what Shizen brought us, Hen."

Hen however was nowhere in sight. As Kokoro and Shizen looked for her, they noticed a small letter lying on the ground. Kokoro walked over to the letter and picked it off the ground. It read:

**Dear Kokoro&Shizen **

**I'm going out to get a bucket of water. It's going to be steam water so we can use it for the rice. I'll be back soon. **

**Sincerely, Hen. **

" Wow, he ditched us when we weren't looking," Shizen said slightly gawking at the letter. " That was pretty cool. Wouldn't you agree, Kokoro?"

" Yeah…very cool."

OOO

Hen was busy preparing a bucket full of water—it was painful and embarrassing for Hen to handle all the housework when they were living together. Putting a bucket into the water, scooping it up, Hen took a few small herbs out and dropped them into the water. As the herbs touched the depths of the bucket, the water then began to boil.

"Okay, that takes care of the water," Hen smiled holding the bucket. "Now all I need to do is take it back to—huh, what's that?" Hen saw a big black lump of fur near the shores of the water. Hen instinctively ran over to the shores of the river and dragged the large creature out.

As soon as the creature was dragged out, Hen saw it as a dog. Setting him down, Hen placed his ears over the dogs chest as he checked for a heartbeat.

" _It's faint, but he's still breathing. He needs medical attention right away." _Hen summed up all his strength, reached for the dog and picked him up. Even though Hen was small, wasn't as strong as either Kokoro or Shizen, he carried the dog towards his hut.

"_God, this thing weighs more than me_!"

OOO

Back at the hut, Shizen and Kokoro were playing a friendly gambling game of Liar's Dice. Kokoro won 5 consecutive times, and Shizen didn't win any—Shizen sucked at playing dice games.

" Wow, you really are bad at this," Kokoro snickered as she won another game. " Where did you earn to play, a cave?"

" Actually, I've just never had much good luck in all my years of playing. It seems like I'm cursed to always lose. Pretty crummy, right?"

" Yeah, sucks to be you." Kokoro shaked her cup with dice inside, slammed the cup on the floor, and then raised his cup up. The numbers on the six dices were shown: 6, 6,6, 6,6,6. Kokoro smacked her arms together and pointed a finger at Shizen." Bam! I so own you! That's 500 ryo you owe me, loser!"

" Man, you sure are an unfair winner." Shizen took out a wad of bills in his clothes and handed them over to Kokoro. Kokoro greedily took his bills and flipped down up and down like a fan as she laughed heinously. " Isn't there anyway we can try again? I lost all my money in this game, and I'm totally broke."

" So sorry, but I have two rules: never show sympathy towards anyone, and always make sure they pay you 300% interest when asking for something. "

" I can understand the first one, but what type of rule is the second one?"

"Guys!" Hen shouted in the distance. "Guys, come over here!"

Shizen and Kokoro noticed Shizen as he came towards them with a large, giant creature hooked on his back. Shizen and Kokoro naturally assumed at first it was a backpack with the _hot _water they were looking for, until Hen came closer to them and they saw a big, furry black dog panting on him.

" What?" Shizen gawked. " You say you're coming home with water, and bring back a DOG! We're not eating DOGS!"

" Of course we're not eating this dog, idiot," Hen retorted carrying the giant dog past them to the door to their hut. " He needs medical attention. And as far as I'm certain there's only one doctor in this whole village who gives a damn about him."

Hen, infuriated, kicked the door open to the hut and walked inside. Shizen and Kokoro were both surprised by how hot Hen's head burned. Shizen gawked as Kokoro smiled.

" You know, Hen's kind of crazy."

" Hate to break it to you, Shizen, but so are you. "

" Dammit!" The voice of Hen shouted inside of the hut. " Damn! Damn! Damn!"

" _What the hell," _Shizen thought.

" _I always thought he was a docile, girly boy_," Kokoro thought, smiled. " _This ought to be good_."

Both Shizen and Kokoro ran into the hut to look at the young boy Hen. When they entered, they saw Hen hard at work. He had the dog laid on the ground, wrapped around in a blanket, as he had a stethoscope pressed against his chest.

" Hen, what are you doing?" Shizen said. " Why are you using my good blankets?"

" I'm trying to keep it warm," Hen replied without turning his head. " The first thing it needs is to be warm. Coldness will only be strenuous to his heart and could cause it to shut down. From what I can see, this dog has a fever."

" A f-fever?" Kokoro asked.

" Yes. I found this dog in the water. I can only presume he was in there for hours and has suffered hyperthermia. Now stand back. Let the doctor work."

Hen didn't have any hot water—stupid; he left it back at the river—the only things he had to work with were bandages, herbs, a bowl, and a towel. Hen started by rubbing the dogs fur with towels to dry it. After wiping its fur with towels, Hen bandage any cuts or bruises with bandages. Shizen and Kokoro were both speechless.

" _I didn't know the squirt could be a doctor," _Shizen thought watching Hen operate on the dog.

" _He's so cool and brave," _Kokoro thought watching Hen work, frowned. " _I don't like that. I'd the wimpy Hen who acts like a girl. He's much more fun to tease." _

Hen furthered working. After bandaging the dogs whole body with bandages around his paws and nozzle and wiping his fur dry, Hen dropped leaves and used a rock to crush them into a small transparent green liquid that sparkled under the light. Opening the dogs jaw, Hen poured the liquid in his mouth, then closed it.

" _These dried ginger leaves better work," _Hen thought pouring the liquid into the dogs mouth. " _But still, it almost makes me happy doing this." _As Hen looked down at the sleeping dog, he saw how it was snoring soundly. " _This kind of brings back the old days. The days where I took care of that little infant." _Hen sighed as he reminisced. " _But now that infant is full grown and has children of his own._"

"Hey, is everything alright with the dog, Hen?" Shizen asked.

" Huh? Oh, yes, he's going to be fine. His blood clotting and temperature has recovered, so all that's need left is a little rest."

"That's good," Kokoro said happily. " Hey, do you want to have a nap, Hen? You have been working pretty hard."

"No thanks. I'd rather stay with the dog. I need to make sure he's okay."

"Suit yourself. We still need money for the rice, so you just chill back and do what you need to do."

OOO

Half of the day was gone. Hen stayed beside the big, black dog, sitting in a chair under candlelight, and had a book in his hand. Hen hadn't seen Shizen or Kokoro all day—almost like they took off and ditched him. However, as Hen turned the page to his book, he heard moaning sounds.

" What the hay?"

Hen looked down to see that the dog was none other than the big, black dog he applied medical care too. The dog was fully awake, panting, had its slobbery tongue out and stared Hen right in his eyes. Hen didn't think it was possible but the dog enticed him—its small beady dog eyes twinkling in the light.

" _I have too…" _Hen was out of his chair and down on his eyes. Using his knees, Hen crept closer to the dog. As Hen was close, staring it in its eyes and feeling its hot breath against his neck, Hen stretched his arms around the dogs' neck and embraced it in a big hug. " _Give it a hug. _Your fur is so silk and soft, even though it's black like coal, it feels like a towel."

Hen took his arms away from the giant dog. Staring into its eyes, Hen felt a warm sensation churning inside of him. The big dog stuck its tongue out and licked Hen across his face. The saliva of the dogs tongue went through the pores of Hen's skin, tingling him, and making him jittery.

" Yes, you're a good dog, and I'm glad you're alright, but please stop licking me."

The door to the hut opened and Shizen and Kokoro walked inside. Kokoro was in front, staring down, saw the subtle image of Hen being licked by the big, black dog. Kokoro laughed lightly at the appearance of Hen being licked.

"Well, it looks like someone's found a new buddy. Or a new girlfriend."

The big, black dog ran over from Hen and walked under Kokoro and stuck its nose between her legs. Kokoro flinched at the feeling of the dogs' nose touching her rear end. However, instead of being embarrassed, she was angry that Shizen was laughing behind her.

" Guess he likes sticking his face in the gutter. Hahahahaha!

" SHUT UP!" The kanji symbol火 appeared over her head and flames burned her body. Kokoro's foot went right past the dog and kicked Shizen in his head. The force of Kokoro's foot pushed Shizen out of the hut as he collapsed on the ground. " TAKE THAT, YOU MISERABLE DOG!"

" Rowrrrr," Shizen groaned. Out of the hut the big, black dog ran out and jumped on Shizen's stomach. The dog licked Shizen over his face with his big sloppy tongue. " _This is really uncomfortable_."

Kokoro ignored Shizen and brought a large white sack out. Kokoro dumped the white sack on the ground, walked over to Hen and hugged him. Hen was nearly half the size of Kokoro, so he was easily lifted up by Kokoro and had his body squeezed too hard.

" Aw, Hen, you good boy. You went out of your way to help a poor animal. That was SO nice of you."

Hen's ribs and arms were being crushed by Kokoro's unnatural strength, hardly able to speak, stuttered, " Kokoro…y-yo-your crushing me."

Shizen no longer on the ground stared up at Kokoro Hen and smiled—he found it humorous how the girl was crushing the boy.

" Ha, you two make the perfect _couple_! Hahahahah!"

" SHUT UP!" Both Hen and Kokoro shouted in unison. The kanji symbol 水 appeared on Hen's forehead and the fire symbol 火 appeared on Kokoro's forehead.

" Giant Vortex!"

" Great Fireball!"

A massive orb of roaring fire was released from Kokoro's body and a giant wave of water was released from Hen's body. The fire and the water throttled at Shizen and collided against him. Shizen was pushed back by the two attacks and was pushed out of the hut.

As Shizen hit the ground, burning all over his body with water soaked around it, he groaned. Hen and Kokoro then walked over to the bag of rice for dinner, but found the dog had broken into the bag and was gobbling up the rice.

" Great," Kokoro said. " Now that he's healthy, what are we going to do with him?"

" We could just keep him."

" Yeah right. Get me some papers and I'll make a wanted poster."

Shizen still on the ground, rolling, burning, groaned, " I can really use a doctor right about now."

OOO

The Yósho Clan scoured Leaf Village in search for the dog with the key in his mouth. However, even after scouring every section of Leaf Village, they couldn't find a single trace of the black, furry dog.

" The leader, the man wearing a wolf mask made of red graffiti, he looked at the sky, yelling at the top of his lungs, " WHERE IS THAT DAMN DOG!?"


	8. Chapter 8

I'm nothing but a vessel compared to my partner Depressed Perfectionist :0 I know some of you must be tired fearing her name, but if I don't mention her now and then, she'll feel like she's not a part of this story ") She's an important part, some might even say she's a saint, and even if some of you think the dialogue may be off, she's the most crucial part of the story ") So if some of you do review—I live to see—make sure to applaud Depressed Perfectionist; she's in charge of this plot ")

OOO

Shizen and Kokoro were both having troubles sleeping. All throughout the hut, the annoying sound of the black dog barking. Shizen was wakened from his lucid dream of him _sitting _with _beautiful _girls in bikini's, and Kokoro was disturbed from her dream of _snuggling_ with her dreamy, diminutive Hen.

Hen however wasn't disturbed by the noise. Hen had never felt so much solace before, lying beside the body of a furry animal, and snoring soundly against each other. From the mouth, the black, furry dog stuck out its long pink tongue and licked Hen's cheek.

" Hen, shut that dog up!" Kokoro shouted as she wasn't asleep.

" Yeah, some of us are trying to get some sleep!" Shizen shouted as he too wasn't sleeping.

Hen didn't pay attention to any noise; he just couldn't hear them. The vibes hitting Hen's eardrums were ignored as he continued to snore soundly while hugging the stray dog.

" Hen!"

" Hen!"

Thump thump **thump **thump

The sound of stomping was heard upstairs as Kokoro and Shizen marched down. Kokoro and Shizen were both wearing different sets of pyjamas. Their pyjamas were all serviette, woven one-piece of pyjamas. Shizen's a white pyjama suit with pictures of trees on it and Kokoro an orange pyjama suit with pictures of flames on it.

Both Kokoro and Shizen stomped over too Hen and shaked him with both their arms. Hen however wasn't harmed by the shaking and continued to snooze soundly through his mouth.

" Grrrr!" Shizen growled shaking Hen. " Even for a little guy, why does he have to be such a heavy sleeper?"

" Forget about him!" Kokoro also growled. " It's that damn dog's head I want!"

" Yeah, kill the dog!"

Shizen and Kokoro heaved and heaved to get Hen off of the black furred dog, but Hen had his arms taut with adhesive. Kokoro then walked behind Shizen and had her arms wrapped around his waist and tugged on him. Both Shizen and Kokoro's faces were red, sweating, and their arms and legs were aloof.

" He sure is heavy for a little guy!" Shizen shouted.

" Maybe you're just weak for a _big _guy!" Kokoro shouted.

Finally, Shizen and Kokoro both pried Hen off of the dog and set him calmly on the ground. Kokoro then stuck a kunai out of her clothes. " Tonight, the nightmare ends!"

OOO

" Ack!" Kokoro gagged. Kokoro remembered last night with the black furred dog, gagged. " I can't believe that dog actually…soiled me. H-h-he…farted on me. Ewwwww!"

Kokoro was in charge of cooking breakfast. Since Hen and Shizen were both incapacitated, immobilized, as they were both still sleeping. Kokoro sizzled meat on a frying pan, set a roll of pancakes out, and even garnished white rice in a rice bowl.

" Fu fu, nothing tastes better than fresh baked breakfast in the morning," Kokoro smiled forgetting her troubles from last night. " Dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dum. Breakfast is served."

Kokoro was able to finish three plates of food with different foods prepared: short steak with broccoli, egg rolls made with pancakes, and rice bowls with white rice in it. " And…" Kokoro threw one plate at the table. " Here…" Kokoro threw a second plate on the table. " We…" Kokoro threw her last plate on the table. " Are…"

The table was arranged with all three plates for Hen, Shizen, and Kokoro. After everything was laid out, Kokoro chuckled too herself and pulled her kunai out as she saw herself in the reflection of her kunai. " I'm smart and beautiful. I'm cunning, ravishing, and absolutely—"

Kokoro gawked at the sight of the dog on their table and munching down on the breakfast food. " Whaaaaaaaat!" Kunai changed the side of her kunai and pointed it at the dog, smiled. " I'm going to enjoy this!"

Kokoro jabbed her kunai at the dog. Kokoro couldn't hit the dog as it moved too fast for her kunai too stab. The only thing that _touched _was the dogs' tail smacking her face.

" Grrrr! Stupid dog! Stand still!"

" Hey, Kokoro, what are you doing?" Hen said. His voice sounded languid from him just waking up.

" Hen! Look at what this dog did! He ate our breakfast!"

" Ehem," Shizen coughed, he made his way through the door. He too sounded lazy from just waking up. " Don't I have any say in this."

" Okay, Shizen," Kokoro said, her eyes were moppy and grim. " Tell us, Shizen, what is this idea of yours?"

" I say…" Shizen then smiled deviantly as he reached into his clothes and pulled out a black shuriken. " That we kill the dog and eat his meat."

" Moron!" Hen shouted as he jumped up and banged Shizen's head with his right arm. " Don't-eat-my-dog!"

" Your dog?" Kokoro asked. " How's it your dog?"

" Because I took care of it when it was sick ,so I have the right to do with the dog as I please. And you can't—" Hen's attention turned to the floor where the dog was sitting. On the floor, Hen saw nothing but small pieces of hair the dog shed.

" Where's your _precious _little dog now, Hen?" Shizen asked smiling smugly.

" I-I just don't know."

" Guys," Kokoro said, she dragged Hen and Shizen over to the nearby windowsill and made them see through the transparent piece of glass. Through the window, Hen and Shizen could make out the black furry dog digging at an incredible speed and making a giant hole in the ground.

" That damn dogs destroying our front yard!" Shizen tried running outside, but was stopped by Kokoro as she tugged on his back collar and pulled him towards her.

" You're not going anywhere. Not until you, me, and Hen discuss what we're going to do."

" Didn't I tell you how we can just kill the dog? It's not like killing a dog isn't illegal or anything. It is a _dog_."

" No, what if this dog has an owner? It's too friendly around humans too be some kind of stray, so maybe we should ask the villagers if they know who the dog belongs too instead of doing anything rash."

" Don't give me that. I saw you. You were trying to stab that dog to death with _your _weapon."

" No I wasn't," Kokoro lied. Her cheeks tinted red as she tried hiding her embarrassment.

" You did too you little liar."

" Moss head!"

" Liar!"

" So? I was just angry it ate breakfast. You'd be angry too if you spent as much time as I did cooking."

" You actually tried to make breakfast? _I knew it. She's trying to woe me over because I'm the stud of the ninjas. Maybe I should give her my smile." _Shizen perked up and smiled at Kokoro. Kokoro however didn't see him as she had googly eyes on the ceiling.

"Yes. I wanted to repay Hen for all the hard work he did. _He's so cute when he tries hard."_

"Augh!" Shizen agaped and gawked whereas his eyes turned white. " H-Hen? _That stupid doll of a man. How dare he try to steal this girl from me_." Shizen turned his head too where Hen _was _standing and glared at where Hen _was_. " Hen, what do you have too—What?"

Instead of Hen, Kokoro and Shizen both found a letter on the ground. Shizen leaned down and picked the letter off the ground and looked at the kanji writing closely:

**Dear Shizen&Kokoro **

**It has come to my attention the dog is restless because it needs plenty of exercise. I've decided to take it for a walk to calm it down. If you have any questions about this, or you would like to suggest other ways to cool the dog down, please write them on the other side of this letter. I'll be back soon and will have breakfast for all of us. **

**Your friend, Hen.**

" So he just left us here alone?" Kokoro asked with her hands lifelessly hanging down.

" I-I guess so." Shizen placed the letter on the counter. Seeing the up starch Kokoro, Shizen decided to test his luck and had his hands wrapped around her waist. " So, should you and me go out and eat some breakfast. It can be a date with just you and m—"

WHACK!

Kokoro, angry about Hen's _passing _and Shizen's flirting, she banged Shizen in his head as hard as she could and watched him fall on the ground. Kokoro, her head still boiling angry and growling her teeth, bawled her fists up as steam boiled from her head.

" Eat that."

Knock-Knock-**Knock**-Knock

" Huh? What's that?"

Knock-Knock-**Knock**-Knock

" Shizen, get up."

" Aughhhhh." Shizen clutched onto the nearest thing his hands could grab—he clamped his fingers on Kokoro's left leg. Her feet were warm, creamy and gave off heat. " _Can it really be true_?" Shizen tested out the softness of Kokoro's legs by stroking them. As he did, he smiled, his mouth curved up, and he chuckled too himself, and kept stroking her legs. " Hahahahaha—"

CRASH!

Kokoro raised her left foot up and smashed it behind Shizen's head. Shizen's face crashed through the floor. He then tried squirming his way out of the floor, but was too stuck to move. " _I feel like a bird with its head in the ground. Somebody get me out of here_!"

Then, ignoring Shizen, Kokoro walked to the door of their hut and opened the door. Outside, a policemen from the Konoha Military Police Force stood before her, and she was attracted by his outstanding handsomeness. The man enticed her with his shoulder length red hair and maroon eyes. His attire for the regular Konoha shinobi outfit was different, instead of green it was asymmetry where the green was on the right and red was on the left and his symbol of the police for was on his right shoulder.

" _Wow, he's so handsome." _After ogling him, Kokoro sighed outward and shook her head. " _I only wish his skin was more creamy and girly like Hen. Then I'd be able to snuggle him when I sleep." _

" Excuse me, miss, but can I have a word with you?" The policemen said. He then took out a flyer from his pockets and showed it too Kokoro. On the flyer, Kokoro could see the picture of the black furred dog. " We have reports from a person, er, who's a rich businessman. And he, er, asked us police force to find his dog, er, so we are asking you, er, if you have seen this dog."

" This dog?" Kokoro asked, she rubbed the picture and smiled deviantly. " Yes, I've seen your dog. But first, how much is the reward for finding this dog."

" There is no reward. It's all for the goodness of your heard."

" Ooh, that just won't work for me, handsome. Finding a lost dog is at least 1000 ryō. But, since it's me that found it, you have to pay my 300% interest."

Shizen, his face smudged by dirt from being stuck in the floor, walked behind Kokoro, said, " But wasn't it Hen who found i—"

WHACK!

Shizen was punched in the face by Kokoro and was pushed aback by her brutal taijutsu punch. Shizen shaked his legs to indicate he was still alive, but Kokoro just ignored him as she tried to persuade the policemen.

" As I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted, I'm going to have to ask for 3000 ryō for that lost dog."

" Ma'am, I'm afraid I'm not obliged to hand money to yo—" Kokoro grabbed the policemen's hands and pulled it too her chest. The man forcibly groped her breasts and squeezed them tenderly as his face tinted red and blood dripped from his nose.

" Aw, can't you make an exception for me? Little O me could use some' good money to work with. Can't you give me some money for finding a lone, helpless little dog, mister?"

" A-ah-ah…" The policemen gasped still groping Kokoro's breasts. He then took his hand off of her and placed it by his side. His cheeks were still red as he heard Kokoro snicker too herself. " Um, I'm afraid all priorities of giving rewards is left with my leader."

" Ooh, listening to your sensei, eh? I like that about a man." Kokoro hugged the policemen and leaned in closer to him. The policemen shuddered at the feel of Kokoro's breasts rubbing against him through the fabric of her clothes, stunned.

" Eh…Kokoro…"

The policemen grabbed Kokoro by her hands and pushed her off. The policemen held his hand over his nose, tried stopping the squirting of blood, stopped. " Eh, I'm going to have to come inside. If your friend has the dog, then I'll wait until he comes back."

" Okay," Kokoro giggled jumping off the policeman, smiled. " I'll make some tea for you."

Kokoro and Shizen both sidestepped out of the way as the policeman walked, nearly falling along the way, through the path created by Kokoro and Shizen. With his hand on his face, the policeman growled.

"_Those fools_! _When that dog gets back, I'll make it find that key, and I'll slit every one of their throats. All hail the __Yósho Clan__." _

OOO

" Let's see…"

Hen watched the black dog scamper around while wagging its furry tail. The dog barked happily as it jumped up, jumped down, and ran around in circles, barking."

" Thataboy, Maru," Hen giggled while using his fingers to scribble in the sand. " _Maru, I like that name. Maru._" Finally finishing scribbling in the sand, Hen laughed at what he wrote down:

**Hen=Rabbit**

**Kokoro=Fox**

**Shizen=Skunk**

" Ha, what animals would we be? I'm a rabbit because I'm small and fast, Kokoro's a fox because she's devious and a trickster and Shizen's a skunk because he just _stinks_. Hahahahah!"

" Rowf! Rowf! Rowf!" The dog, Maru, barked like it was laughing with Hen.

" Thataboy, Maru." An apple than fell from the trees above Hen's head. The apple bonked on Hen's head and hit his noggin. Hen then grabbed the apple and rolled it over to Maru. The dog stopped the apple with his nose, sniffed it, then panted staring over the apple and looking at Hen.

"Eat. It was a rough day last night, so you'll need to eat. Here." Maru seemed to understand Hen; he listened to him and ate the apple bit by bit until only the apple core was left. Maru then yelped happily and ran over too Hen as he licked him on his face.

" Hey, hey, stop that, Maru. Your tongues just too soft! Stop. Stop!"

" It's almost comical looking at a kid like you laughing," A moody, sad tone said above Hen. Hen looked his head up from Maru and saw a new person standing above him. The man was a fair-skinned ninja who has onyx eyes with black chin-length hair. He wore a grey high-collared short-sleeved blue shirt. He also wears blue wrist warmers with shuriken armband Hen noticed hidden underneath. And around his waist was a belt sash.

" Um, can I help you?" Hen asked, he was vaguely quiet looking at the mysterious ninja.

" Hmmm." The ninja was silent. He just stared at Hen, looking him straight in his eyes, and even held out a hand to feel Hen's creamy white skin. " _It can't be." _

The ninja grabbed Hen and raised him above the ground. He then stared deeper into his eyes as it made Hen sweat with anxiety. " _This guy is really weird_. _But there's something about him that seems…familiar." _

" Hey, slow down!" The sound of a kid shouted.

" No way! Catch me if you can, slowpoke!"

Two kids ran out of the woods. They were both laughing, had their hands raised up and were moving recklessly. One of the kids accidentally bumped into Hen and pushed him. After pushing him, the kid continued to run, but stopped after the other kid ran past him and tackled him to the ground.

" You idiot! Look where you're going!" The other kid turned his head around and started chuckling to himself. " Sorry about my friend. He can be so—uh!"

In the eyes of the kid, he saw Hen and the strange male ninja closely, and saw how their lips were touching—two males kissing each other on their lips. The sight was disturbing on both of them, repulsing, and was more comical than romantic.

" Ewwww!"

" Hey, what are they do—"

" Just shut up and let's get out of here!"

Both boys scampered away from Hen and the other ninja. When they were gone, Hen jumped away from the ninja and dunked his head in a nearby lake to rid him of the sour taste of male lips.

" Gah! I can't believe I kissed a boy! _And that was my first kiss." _

" You, Genin ninja, what is your name?" The ninja said in a casual tone untampered by Hen's _kiss_.

" Uh, my name is Hengѐku Hinata. But most people just call me Hen. What is your name, sir?"

" Don't ask me that. I prefer it if you kept your mouth shut; your voice is just too annoying. _Hinata_? _Could he really be the son of Hinata_?" The ninja walked up behind Hen, grabbed him by his shoulders and turned his head so he was facing him. Hen noticed something peculiar about the way the ninja's eyes looked at his strange new eyes. His eyes had the appearance of three intersecting ellipses. It had a red design and black background a symmetrical red leaf in the lens of his eyes.

"_Something feels eerie about this man. It's almost like he's a living…corpse._"

" Hmmm." After staring into Hen's eyes for twenty whole seconds, then sighed outward and placed Hen's feet back on the ground. " Something seems different about you. I'm not sure whether it's good or bad, but I'm curious." After speaking, the ninja walked away from Hen and stared at the lake behind him. Hen and Maru both walked behind the ninja, then in perfect unison they tilted their heads right. " That's a nice dog you have there, Hen. Too bad it's not _your _dog."

" Oh, is it your dog, mister?"

" Don't call me mister. And no, that's not my dog. The villagers know it as a stray dog that begs anyone for food."

" So…I can keep him?"

" You can if you want. But I'd be more concerned about your friends."

" Huh, my friends? Why's that?"

" I noticed a group of police force heading for your hut."

" Really? Why would police want too—"

" I didn't finish yet. They say their police, but a real shinobi policemen wouldn't be wearing the color red. Also, there's something else."

" What? What is it?"

" They saw their looking for a 'stray' dog, but the policemen always referred to him as 'Tatsumi'."

" So…" Hen leaped up and shuddered. After shuddering, Hen turned around and ran away. " I have to warn Shizen and Kokoro! Their very lives depend on me!"

Hen ran far away from the ominous ninja and made his way back to the hut. As he was running, the black furred dog Maru strolled right behind him. The ninja then scoffed as he also shaked his head.

" He's just as big of an idiot as that idiot Naruto."The ninja touched the lips where he was kissed, frowned. " He's even copied some of his idiocy." The ninja darted his eyes at Hen, stared at him, then scoffed again. " But if he can't even handle some bandits, then what should I make of him?"


	9. Chapter 9

(**A/N: What's up all those who're reading my story? I think it's time for some fighting. Yay, some great fighting. I still think this story is going to take a few years for me to finish. So I wonder if my partner DepressedPerfectionist is still going to be working with me. But if you have any suggestions for me, then please review or PM me, please.) **

OOO

Shizen and Kokoro were both sitting next to each other as they were tied together by rope and sitting on chairs. Shizen kept a clear, calm expression as he mumbled something to himself, but Kokoro who distasted being besides Shizen yelled and tried breaking free of the ropes.

" GET ME OUT OF HERE!" Kokoro yelled with a look of pure evil on her face. " I don't want to be stuck here with HIM!"

" Ouch, that kind of hurts, Kokoro," Shizen said in a casual and unhurt voice. " Let's just try to calm down and look at the positive of things."

" What positives? It's your fault HE got as tied up like this!"

" Now now, let's not be blaming me. What exactly did I do?"

" You left me alone to make tea, and he jumped me. "

" He jumped me too. I turned the corner and he hit me with something hard." Shizen reminisced as he looked his head up. " I wonder if Hen could check to see if I'm alright."

" Well you're not alright! You nearly got me killed!"

" Hey, I'm not the one who's ' wait here and your dog will come back' to that 'officer'. You just had to get your three hundred percent interest."

" Hey, I work long and hard every day, so why can't I have my own money?"

" Would you two shut your mouths?" One of the Yósho Clan members rudely interrupted. " I'm trying to read the newspaper."

" _This is all Kokoro's fault," _Shizen thought while he was tied up. " _It's her fault…"_

OOO

_ " Shizen, why don't you leave us alone so I can get acquainted with the handsome policemen."_

_" Why do I have to leave_?"

_" Because you're ruining me and my interrogation. So why don't you be a dear and get us something." _

_" Fine. I'll go make some tea." _

_Shizen left to the kitchen in the not so spacious hut. After he was gone, Kokoro got off her chair and walked near the entrance of the kitchen. _

_" And make sure the tea you give me is Sencha. It's pretty much the only tea I'm ever going to—" _

_The policemen snuck behind Kokoro and clamped his arms at her waist. Kokoro was startled by the policemen, and she was choked by a white cloth pressed at her neck. Kokoro could feel narcotics tingling in her mouth as she began feeling tired. _

_" Ssssshhhhh," the policemen said as he kept the cloth pressed against Kokoro's mouth. " Don't worry; it's not poisonous. You'll be able to experience everything. And I assure you, once your friend returns with our dog, we'll kill him immediately."_

_" Hen…" _

_Kokoro's body became limp, she lost all movement in all her muscles, and she collapsed on the floor. No sooner did she leave did the policemen move his back to the right side of the doorway to the kitchen and waited for Shizen to leave._

_" Hey Kokoro," Shizen said as he peered his head through the door, unbeknownst to him how someone was beside him. " We're all out of Sencha. Would you be willing to drink some Bancha inst—"_

_The policemen chopped his steel hands at the back of Shizen's neck and the green haired ninja collapsed on impact. While he was down, the policemen took out a pair of headphones and a fuzzy mouthpiece. The sound of radio static was heard from the headphones as the policemen had it on his head. _

_" Sir, I've found where the dog is hiding. The address is a quaint hut near a lake in the far outskirts of Leaf Town."_

_" Excellent," the leader said on the other end of the headset. " I'll send you some of my men to help you search."_

_" Thank you, sir. I've also captured two of the house residents. What should I do with them, sir?"_

_" Keep them as leverage. If any real police officer's try to show up then you can use them as hostages. The police may be cold, but even they wouldn't risk losing civilian life."_

_" Understood, sir. End of transmission."_

_" And end of transmission to you, my loyal assassin."_

_After ending the transmission between the assassin and his leader, he made his way to the kitchen, only to nearly trip on the unconscious body of Shizen. As he looked down on Shizen, he kicked him by his sides. _

_ " I'll leave you besides the ladies' body. I think I'll keep you two company before I kill you both. All hail _Yósho Clan_."_

OOO

" Now Hen's going to die because of you!"

" Hen's not going to die!" Shizen retorted. As he yelled, the evil look on Kokoro's face lifted and she looked more docile with her eyes lighting up like stars. " I bet you 100 ryō Hen's on his way back here right now and is going to do something cool to save us."

" Hen…" Kokoro smiled at the sound of Hen's name and closed her eyes. Her face brushed into the ropes as she imagined them to be warm hands. " _I know you can help us, Hen._"

OOO

Two members of the Yósho Clan were guarding the entrance to the hut. One of them wore a graffiti mask that looked like a coyote and the other wore a graffiti mask that looked like a racoon. Both stood beside each other—one holding a katana and the other holding a kunai—but there was nothing for them to do.

" This sucks," the Yósho Clan member with the coyote graffiti mask said as they awaited by the entrance. " Why are we on sentry duty? We're strong, right?"

" Of course we are," the ninja with the racoon graffiti mask said. " We're probably the toughest members around. So why does the boss always give us the lame jobs."

" Well none of this will matter when we're both rich. The first thing I'm getting with the money from that chest is some ramen."

" Why would you waste your money getting ramen?"

" Trust me. The best way to celebrate something is by eating from a cup of ramen. You can't go wrong when you eat ramen."

" I don't know." Sweat dripped from the other ninja's mask as he was embarrassed by his cohort. " It seems to me like you only like eating ramen."

The sound of footsteps was then heard stampeding towards the hut. Both ninja's turned their heads to where the noise was coming from and they both saw a blurry black object charging towards them. Only after adjusting their eyes were they able to see the object as Hen's dog Maru.

" Well I'll be damned," the Yósho Clan member wearing a coyote masked said. " It's that dog we've been looking for."

" Guess it's true what they say," the ninja wearing a racoon mask said. " Guess animals really are as dumb as they look." After seeing the happy, slobbery face of the dog up close, both ninjas got into fighting positions. " Time for you to face the ground, do—"

" Eeeeeee-yoowwwww!"

Hen jumped down from above and kicked the Yósho Clan member with the racoon graffiti mask in his head. The Yósho Clan member fell down hard as he collapsed on the ground. Hen then landed on his feet and steadied himself to fighting the Yósho Clan with the coyote mask.

" Why you little brat!" The Yósho Clan member struck his sword into Hen's body. The Yósho Clan member scoffed after he raised Hen up with the sword lodged in his chest. " Looks like this is the end of the line for you, you br—"

Hen's body dissolved into water. The Yósho Clan member lapsed at the sight of his sword dripping with water, then he shuddered at the feeling of cold breath breathing behind his back.

" I'm sorry, but it looks like you hit my water clone instead of me. Eeeeeee-yoowwwww!"

Hen chopped the Yósho Clan member behind his back with his hands. The Yósho Clan member lost consciousness at the feel of Hen's hand and collapsed on the ground. No sooner did he fall, Mizu the dog scampered up to Hen and jumped up as he licked Hen's face. The dog only bent stood half-up since Hen was three-fourth the size of Shizen or Kokoro.

" Hey, cut it out, boy! That tickles!" Hen laughed at the feeling of Maru's tongue licking his face. " We don't-_hee_-have time for-_hee_-that." Hen pushed Maru off. Hen leaned down so he could look at Maru right in his eyes. " We have to get inside and help Kokoro and Shizen."

" YOU LITTLE BRAT!" A voice much stronger than the previous ninjas shouted. " You'll pay!"

Another Yósho Clan member jumped up from behind and tried slamming a giant tree trunk on him, but Hen somersaulted out of the way before the trunk touched the ground and Maru scampered off with him.

As he was in the air, Hen noticed the Yósho Clan member. He was bulkier, his skin was tan black, was too big for Yósho Clan member clothes and only wore a white shirt and giant shorts, and had short black hair in a ponytail. The Yósho Clan member was so large he carried a giant tree in his hands.

" _This guy's big," _Hen thought while he was trying to dodge every swing, smiled. " _Big even the biggest of foes can be stopped. All I need is to use my new skill." _

Hen took out a small crystal shaped transparent glass with water inside of it. Taking off the cap, he poured water all over the big behemoth. The effects seemed adverse for Hen as the behemoth continued swinging his tree trunk.

In the Yósho Clan members eyes—the eye of an overgrown, pea-brain sized man, he was winning—Hen was too terrified to move. The giant man continued whacking his tree at Hen and Hen just took the hits without any retaliation.

" Hahahahaha!" The bulky man laughed heinously while hitting Hen. Die! Die! Die!"

In Hen's eyes-the person who sprayed the man with the water—the bulky man was under his illusion. Instead of hitting Hen, he just swung his tree trunk in thin air and laughed to himself.

" Tsk. You'd think these guys would be a little smarter." Hen shaked his head as he smiled. " But then again, not everyone can tell the difference from genjutsu and reality. I can only thank Kokoro for teaching me genjutsu. Now, what should I do next?"

OOO

Shizen couldn't stand to see Kokoro as she was angry and pushing her body against the rope holding her together. Meanwhile, the Yósho Clan member who posed as a policemen had a small box in his hands as he observed both Shizen and Kokoro. The Yósho Clan member opened his box—he had a special velvet case with knives for this purpose—and carefully selected one of those big, shiny knives.

" Hey, get me out of here!" Shizen yelled as Kokoro continued to pull on the ropes. " I can tell you anything. Just let me go!"

" I find all your tedious talk to be boring," the Yósho Clan member said without paying much attention to Shizen as he was too busy testing the sharpness of his knife be rubbing his fingers on them and dripping out blood. " I think I'll rip out your intestines, heart, liver and innards. "

" No please! You can't kill me! I have a brother and father who're looking for me. Kill them!"

" Silence." The Yósho Clan member spinned his knife around and swished it against the air to practice. " Now the boss only wanted the key to the chest that stupid dog stole, but I think things just might lead into a genocide. Any volunteers to who goes first?"

The Yósho Clan member slowly started sauntering over to both Shizen and Kokoro with his big, shiny knife in his hands. As he was walking, Kokoro continued to growl and rant to herself about how " restrained" she was. But Shizen was filled with much anxiety and his mouth agaped.

" Kokoro, do something!"

The Yósho Clan member however stopped moving at the sound of footsteps creeping up behind him. As he turned his head around, he saw his Yósho Clan member cohort with the coyote mask standing behind him.

" Didn't I tell both you slackers to watch the entrance?" The fake policemen with much distaste of seeing his fellow ninja.

" Hey, we got problems over here. There's the dog outside, but we can't get to him because some kid's stopping us."

" Kid?" Shizen said out loud. " He can't possibly mean—"

" Hen?" Kokoro bellowed as her eyes lit up and she smiled. " Hen's here. Hen's really coming back."

" I see." The Yósho Clan member walked over to the Yósho Clan member with the coyote graffiti mask and rubbed his pointy ears. " Nice try, boy."

The member kicked his fellow Yósho Clan member in his chest. The member was pushed back and flew towards the door. But as he was pushed back, a puff of smoke enveloped his body and Hen came out of it.

" Hen!" Shizen and Kokoro shouted in unison; Shizen was surprised and Kokoro was smiling.

Hen fell on the ground. As he was down, Hen then got back up and wiped his mouth from blood bleeding from his mouth, smiled.

" B-but how?" Shizen murmured.

Hen scoffed and chuckled out loud. " It's because I spent so many times training with Kokoro. She taught me all about transformation technique and Demonic Illusions."

" Ooh, it was nothing much," Kokoro said sincerely. " I just moved you in the right direction."

" _Gee, she's never smiled_ _when around me_," Shizen thought as he stared depressingly on the floor. " _Stupid Hen. Gets all the action and leaves me hanging." _

Hen got into his fighting pose. Hen pushed both his palms forward as he smiled. " Let's settle this with a little taijutsu."

" Fine by me," The Yósho Clan member said casually as he held both his hands out and smiled. " I haven't had any action like this all day."

" Let's begin!" Both Hen and the Yósho Clan member yelled in unison as they both ran towards each other.

The Yósho Clan member started by thrusting his arms at Hen, but the pint-sized ninja narrowly evaded the punch by him jumping back. As he landed on his feet, Hen dashed towards the member and rapidly punched his arms at the intruders arms that were blocking Hen from hitting his face.

" Well, I'm impressed. You're a much more worthy adversary than that stupid girl and her lazy friend."

" Hey!" Both Shizen and Kokoro bellowed together in unison as they were irked.

" But I'm no simpleton like those sentry guards you've faced. I actually know how to fight." The Yósho Clan member jumped back away from Hen with great force. After jumping back he did hand signals, and then he disappeared in a puff of smoke. " How are you supposed to fight me if you can't see m—"

Hen jumped up and kicked a lump on the ceiling. The lump turned out to be the Yósho Clan member as he fell down and hurtled on the ground. The Yósho Clan member fell right through the floor and broke the wood of the floor.

" Hey!" Shizen shouted after seeing the Yósho Clan member fall through the floor. " Quit fighting in this hut! I paid good money to get it!"

Hen ignored Shizen and looked down on the hole made in the ground. He waited patiently for when the Yósho Clan member would return, but nothing happened after waiting patiently for 10 minutes.

" _I wonder where he scampered off too." _

The door to the hut then opened and an elderly man walked inside. The person was a light-skinned man of below-average stature with grey hair. A small goatee with short spiked hair—both being dark brown in color. A single line was running vertically under the outer corners of his eye, which stretched down into his face. He also had pronounce cheekbones and a few wrinkles. He wore a uniform with a hat and haori, along with a red, full-length kimono that was tied using a white sash. The elderly man walked over to Hen and clamped his hands around Hen's.

" Oh bless you, you magnificent ninja," the old man said with a crooked smile on his face. " I am the third hokage Hiruzen goodness you're okay. I heard word from the villagers you were being attacked and I came to help yo—"

Hen punched the third hokage in his face. But as the hokage was pushed back, Hen saw him evaporate in a puff of smoke and the Yósho Clan member taking his place. The Yósho Clan member punched his fists into the floor to stop himself from moving anymore—his feet had to scrape across the ground first—but he still smiled.

" First: If you're a hokage, then you wouldn't address me as a 'ninja'. Judging by my age, a real hokage would call me a genin. Second: A hokage wouldn't just 'show up'. He'd send out a jounin or even a chunin to help out. Third: You should study more on your history. The real third hokage died nearly twenty years ago."

" Hmp. Very perceptive of you, brat. I was hoping to settle things nice and easy, but now I guess the only way to stop you is to kill you." The Yósho Clan member took out two shiny, big knifes from his hips and spinned them around, then he smiled. " Let the showdown commence, brat."

The man dashed towards Hen while swinging his two giant knifes. As he swinged his knives, Hen did a handstand and stepped out of the way of each swing. He jabbed both his knives at Hen, but Hen thrusted both his legs up and knocked his knifes out of his hand.

" This is for hurting my friends!" Hen used his hands to spring himself up and punched the man in his face. " This is for threating Mizu!" Hen punched both his fists into the Yósho Clan members' chest and pushed him back. As he soared through the air, Hen summoned a vortex of water from his legs and springed himself forward. Hen flew under the Yósho Clan members' tailbone and pulled his fist back. " And this is for me!"

Hen punched his fist into the Yósho Clan's tailbone and pushed him into the air. However, while he was heading to the ceiling, he disappeared in a puff of white smoke and reappeared on the floor. " Go ahead. Keep thrashing. I like it."

Hen fell prey to the Yósho Clan members taunting and ran to the malicious' Yósho Clan member. After getting close to him, preparing to punch him in his face, the Yósho Clan member separated his body and became two clones.

" Try to guess which one is which," both clones said snidely together.

Hen paused for a moment trying to reconcile the two clones from each other, but he eventually punched his fists into the clone on the far left, and it turned out to be the fake as it disappeared into smoke after being hit.

" And now you've left yourself wide open." The real Yósho Clan member laughed as he took out another of his big, shiny knives and jabbed it right into Hen's chest. The sound of Hen wrenching was heard from him as water dripped from his mouth. " Looks like this is the end for you, brat."

It turned out the Hen who had been attacked was nothing more than a mere water clone as he dissipated into nothing more than a puddle of water. The real Hen then jumped up from behind the knife-wielding Yósho Clan member and he kicked him behind his neck.

" Your not the only one who can set a trap, you bastard!"

The Yósho Clan member was pushed by Hen's feet and fell over to where Shizen and Kokoro were tied up. Shizen was quiet but Kokoro continued trying to free herself from her ropes as she growled from her mouth. The Yósho Clan members head flew right into Shizen and banged him on his head.

" OI!" Shizen shouted after being hit on his head. " Hey, Hen, watch it! You could've killed me!"

" Sorry," Hen quickly said. The kanji symbol水soon appeared on Hen's head as he clamped his hands together. A spiral of water came out from Hen's body as the kanji symbol on his head glowed bright red. " You've threatened my friends and you've frightened me. Prepare to feel my water ninjets—"

" Hold it!" The Yósho Clan member quickly shouted. As the Yósho Clan member picked himself off the floor, he took one of his big, shiny knifes out and pointed it at the neck of Shizen. " If you so much as make another more, I'm going to kill both of your friends!"

" WHAT?!" Shizen shouted.

" Grrrrrrrr!" Kokoro growled with an expression of pure evil on her face.

" How dare you!" Hen shouted as all the water around him vanished. " Don't you have any shame? Those are my friends!"

" Moron, I already know that. And since their your friends, I know you won't do anything to put them in harms jeopardy. So tell me, brat, are you willing to lay your life down for them?"

" Hen, don't do it!" Shizen shouted. " He's just going to kill us anyways! You have to hurt him while you still have the chance!"

Hen took haste. Behind his back was his katana Kino gave him. Hen reached back to pull it out, but his fingers twitched as they touched the handle. His hands trembled holding the hilt and his face began to sweat. Hen finally stopped touching the hilt—he couldn't stand the pressure—bowed on his hands and knees as he gasped air into his mouth.

" I can't! I just can't! You guys are the only thing I have to a family right now!"

" Forget about us, Hen. Just beat this guy and beat the Team 7 exams for us. It's the only way!"

" No it's not! My mother told me there would be positions like this like when she was a shinobi, but I just can't do it!"

" Bullshit! Your just scared! Well don't be scared of losing me!" Shizen smiled with his strong white teeth " They say beauty never dies."

" Just stop! I'm not elite enough! I'm only just a kid!" Tears dripped from Hen's eyes as he kept his head on the ground. As Hen looked up, his eyes were soaked with tears and he was trembling. " I'm not even a genin; I'm lower than a genin. I can't save you. I'll never become part of Team 7, I'll never become a doctor, and I'll probably won't get to see my mother's face again. I'm just so…(crying, sniffing) useless."

Shizen took pity on Hen. Hen continued sobbing through his eyes as the Yósho Clan member with the knife laughed at him. Shizen could still feel the sharp point of metal plunging deeper and deeper through him—the knife didn't go through his throat, but anxiety was what plunged deeper into him—he too was scared but didn't want to show it.

" It looks like I can now see you for what you truly are, brat!" The Yósho Clan member raised his knife away from Shizen's neck as he tip-toed closer to Hen. " You're nothing but a big chicken. A little cry baby who can't do anything right. Honestly, what did you ever hope to accomplish, brat?" The Yósho Clan member prepared to finish Hen off, raised his big, shiny knife over him and prepared to plunge it through him, laughed. " After I'm done killing you, I'm going to kill your friends nex—"

" EHHHHHAAAAAAAA!" The loud voice of Kokoro shouting echoed behind Hen and the Yósho Clan member.

The Yósho Clan member turned his head around to see Kokoro as she was even angrier than before. Kokoro was able to push her hands harder on the ropes and started breaking them apart, as Shizen gawked at her.

" Kokoro…(pause) maybe you should think about taking anger management classes."

" EHHHAAAAAAA!"

Kokoro was finally able to free herself from the ropes. Flames burned out of her while she was still angry and full of rage. The Yósho Clan members' blood ran cold from both the flames burning from Kokoro's body and her red eyes.

" W-what is going on here?"

" You tried to kill my friends even after I was willing to give my life for you, eh?" Hen spoke in a voice so cold it made the Yósho Clan member shudder. The Yósho Clan member turned around and looked into Hen's eyes, and in his eyes he saw the color red. " Something like that is UNFORGIVABLE!" The kanji symbol水appeared back on Hen's forehead. Hen quickly grabbed the hilt of his katana, unsheathed it, and slashed it at the Yósho Clan member. " Water Sword Technique: Sword of the Spinning Vortex!"

Water then surrounded the metal of the sword. A giant vortex of water spinned out of the sword and surrounded the body of the Yósho Clan member.

" Ahhhhhh!" The Yósho Clan member screamed while he was in the water. " This is ri-di-cu-loussssssss!"

The water pushed the Yósho Clan member back as he was pushed through the wall. His screaming voice could still be heard while he exited the hut and exited on the other end.

Hen who was drained of most of his chakra nearly collapsed from feeling drained, but he was caught by Shizen. Shizen picked Hen's small body up and placed him on his shoulders to rest.

" _Wow," _Shizen thought while Hen was on his shoulders. " _Not only does he look like a girl, but he even feels like one too. I'm so envious of him." _

" Hen!" Kokoro shouted as she ran up to Shizen, pushed him down, and caught Hen's small body before he fell down. " Thank goodness your okay!" Kokoro held Hen's close to her cleavage under her the fabric of her clothes as she pushed his face in between. " I was so worried about you; you left me alone with Shizen. But I'm glad to see your okay."

" Rowf! Rowf! Rowf!" The dog Maru barked outside.

Maru then scampered into the hut. Maru wagged his tail when he ran up to Hen, jumped up trying to lick his creamy girl skin, but was pushed away by Kokoro who cradled Hen in her arms.

" Honestly, what are we going to do with this dog?" Kokoro said as she pushed the dog away.

The dog continued trying to lick Hen by jumping, but Kokoro persistently pushed him away. Maru finally got tired of jumping and ran towards the door. Kokoro with Hen cradled in her hands and Shizen both ran out the door and headed to where the dog headed.

Outside—a warm, gentile forest surrounding the hut—but it was being used by Maru as his own little digging hole. Maru kept digging in the hole and pushed dirt out in the process.

" This dog is ruining our yard?" Kokoro growled.

" Our yard?" Shizen retorted as if surprised. " It's my money that helped pay for this shack. Ergo, I'm the rightful owner of this place."

" Guys…" Hen groaned in Kokoro's arms. " Look…"

Shizen and Kokoro looked to where Hen was pointing and they both saw what was inside his ditch—sundries and nic-nacs of all kinds—toys, dirty ryō bills, moldy sandwiches and something that looked like…

" A key?"

Kokoro and Shizen both walked up to the key and took it out from the hole. It was covered in dirt but looked clean in both Kokoro and Shizen's eyes.

" I'm guessing this is what those creeps were looking for," Kokoro said as she examined the key.

" I don't know why," Shizen shrugged seeing the key. " It doesn't look like it's worth much."

" When it comes to the world of greenbacks, beauty isn't in the item but in the stock share."

Shizen and Kokoro shuddered at the sound of an ominous person's voice. Both Shizen and Kokoro turned their heads around and saw the black haired ninja Hen met earlier before. The ninja stared into both Shizen and Kokoro's eyes as they stared back at him, shuddered.

" Your…your…" Shizen tried speaking but couldn't get his words out.

" Your Sasuke Uchiha," Kokoro said in Shizen's place.

" Hmph," Sasuke shrugged, but then he scoffed and laughed to himself. "It seems like I haven't been forgotten."

" Your thee Sasuke Uchiha? The very same Sasuke Uchiha of the Sound Four? Aren't you supposed to be wanted all throughout Konoha?"

" Maybe I am and maybe I'm not. What are you going to do if I am?"

" What are you doing here?" Shizen asked.

" I'm doing some undercover work for the real police force. And I've been asked to take that key back to my prodigy so he can take it back to that greedy upperclassman." Sasuke raised his hand out and motioned for Kokoro to put the key in it. Kokoro did and Sasuke placed it behind his chest. " Thank you. I don't say this about many people, but I think your friend might be able to accomplish great things in his life. "

" Oh thank you," Shizen replied as he stretched his muscles out. " I do workout in my spare ti—"

" Not you," Sasuke coldly replied. " I was talking about your other friend. I believe his name was Hengѐku Hinata. Or was it Hen as you two call him."

" Really? But he's the shortest of all us. And who wants a male hokage that looks like a girl?"

" I'm afraid I can't answer all obsolete questions. Now if you'll excuse me I must get back." Sasuke bowed and stood back up again. " Tell your friend he has my humblest of thanks. Now I must shove off!

Sasuke then ran at a speed so fast Shizen and Kokoro couldn't keep track of him; one moment he was standing before them and the next he was gone in a puff of smoke. Kokoro however was too busy trying to hold Hen up as Maru continued trying to lick him.

" That Sasuke's even creepier than he was described before, eh, Kokoro."

" I don't know about that." Kokoro's eyes lit up at the mention of Sasuke's name. " I actually thought he was gorgeous." Kokoro held Hen closer to her face and rubbed his cheeks with a broad smile on her face. " But he's too rogue for my tastes. And I'd rather have me my little Hen here."

Kokoro for the second time licked Hen's left cheek. The sensation of his tongue tickled Hen as he shaked from the tongue. Both Shizen and Kokoro both tittered and giggled at the sight of Hen moving to Maru's tongue, but that stopped after Hen's stomach started to growl.

" I forgot," Shizen said as he rubbed his stomach. " We didn't get to have breakfast because of that damn dog."

" Yeah, I'm hungry too," Kokoro said, where she too was rubbing her stomach. " Hey, how about the three of us go out and have something to eat."

" Sure. That sounds—did you say the "three" of us?"

" Yes. You, me, and Hen."

" Hen? _Dangit, why does that midget always stop me from getting close to women_? _I'm going to throw him around like rag dolls' when he wakes up." _

OOO

Meanwhile, Sasuke was running through the forest, faster than the speed of lightning, carrying the small key in his hands. Sasuke couldn't hide a smile dormant on his face while he remembered meeting Hen. But he soon sighed when he remembered something important.

" _Of course there's more to being a hokage than just being strong a wise._ _If someone wicked were to become a hokage, they'd abuse their powers and things would end up in a genocide. I just hope my Sharingan is as good at reading people's hearts as good as it is reading their moves." _

OOO

The leader of the Yósho Clan gang sat down with everything to his leisure—a bottle of sake, a stool to rest his feet on, and a small book with Ukiyo-e pictures inside—but even all his sundries couldn't quench the foul taste in his mouth.

" So are spy has failed to capture that key? If I ever see him again, somebody should remind me to behead him. But even though we failed to get our key back, I can still make that brat rue the day he ever crossed paths with me."


	10. Chapter 10

(**A/N: Well that was a good conclusion. Granted, some of it may've been a little bit confusing, but I'm sure some questions will be answered in the later chapters. I've been thinking of putting some couples in this story. I'll probably add Hen and Kokoro together, but maybe not (; I'll let my partner DepressedPerfectionist decide that for me. But if you have any suggestions for me, then please review or PM me) **

OOO

" No! No! No! No!" A young artist shouted while he sat in a secluded area in a soup store. " This isn't right! My skills as an artist is imploding!" The artist continued ranting while he scrubbed his brush on a giant scroll. " Why can't I think of anything?"

Kokoro and Shizen decided they needed to treat Hen; they still couldn't wake him up from his comatose state. There were three servings of soup where they sat—Shizen-ramen, Kokoro-miso, Hen-also ramen—Shizen and Kokoro were both slurping from their bowls of soup, but Hen just tilted his body around.

" Shouldn't we take him to the hospital, Shizen?" Kokoro asked while rubbing Shizen's arms. " He looks like he's hardly breathing."

" Don't be ridiculous, Kokoro," Shizen retorted while he slurped ramen in his mouth. " He's just tired from the badass fighting he did earlier. I'm pretty sure all he needs is a little time to rest."

" Maybe, but why'd you bring him here? This is like your torturing him."

" I don't think we have any other choice. Who knows what might happen if we left him alone in his vulnerable state. More of those whatever group might come by and try to assassinate Hen in his sleep."

" Well, I guess you have a point there. But there's just one other thing that worries me."

" Really? What's that ?"

Kokoro pointed her hand back to Hen. Besides Hen was the stray dog Mazu. He was licking Hen across his face. Hen's body tingled at the feel of Mazu's wet, sloppy tongue licking his face; he still didn't open his mouth.

" What are we going to do about this stupid dog?"

" Well, I do suggest we take him home, cut him up, roost him, and then we cook him alive and eat him." Shizen licked his lips and clamped his hands together. " I'd love to try dog met even if it's just this once."

" Well I say something needs to change with this whole democracy! "One of the customers, a drunk, shouted at the top of his lungs.

" It's this whole government that's a shame! Their ruining our welfare. I can't take them anymore!"

One of the drunkards threw his empty bottle of sake at the table Shizen, Kokoro, and Hen were sitting in. Hen barely recovered consciousness, could hear the sound of where the bottle was heading, he jumped up and let the empty bottle smash into the back of his head and shatter.

" Oi!" Hen moaned after being hit.

" Hen!" Kokoro and Shizen both shouted in unison. Kokoro grabbed Hen and tried shaking him to wake him up. " Hen, please wake up!"

" Rowf! Rowf! Rowf!" Mazu the dog barked as he was excited.

" There's just got to be a good way for governor's like us to take care of this trash!"

" Hey, you guys!" Shizen snapped after seeing a large bump pop out Hen's head and his eyes twirling around in circle. " If you want to help out with the government, why don't you start by apologizing for the mess your causing!"

Shizen was staring at a group of ten men wearing green yutaka's, carrying daito's or katana's, and had thin black hair in a ponytail. All ten of the men glared at Shizen as he glared back at them.

" Don't get involved with matters that's too hard for you to understand, boy," one of the men retorted while he glared at Shizen.

" Yeah," another one said. " Your pea-sized brain wouldn't even know the first branch of being in a government career. So why don't you just move along and drink your stupid sake,"

" That's it! I'm not just going to sit back and let you jerks boss me around!" Shizen clapped both of his hands together. The kanji symbol木 appeared above his head. " Wood Release: Cutting Technique!"

Shizen thrusted his hand at the men as sharp wooden spikes were fired out of him. The spikes fired from Shizen's hands went through their clothes and pushed them to the wall. All ten of the men were pushed back by the spikes as they all sticked to the wall.

" _Wow, when did Shizen learn such cool moves_?" Kokoro thought while she watched Shizen pin all ten members against the wall. " _Still, he's nowhere as cool as me. And I'm hot too." _

" Get us down from here, you stupid kid!" One of the men shouted while he was pinned to the wall.

" You don't know how stupid you are, kid. Are you naïve enough to actually try to mess with us?"

" I don't know," Shizen scoffed while he giggled seeing all ten members pinned against the wall. " Maybe if you were actually good at your jobs, something like this would never happen. Now say your sorry to Hen for hurting him."

" Forget that! Kouba, get in here NOW!"

Shizen, Kokoro and even Mazu felt a small earthquake under their feet. The young artist, who couldn't create his masterpiece, was the first to see the person making the noise.

" _H-he's…huge." _

The doors broke apart as a hulky person ran right through the entrance door. The hulking figure wore a green yutaka like the rest of his friends, but his was more of a deluxe model, had chest hair coming out of his yutaka, strong biceps, and small brown hair. The hulking figure stood over Shizen as the green haired ninja cowered.

" Bring it on, you big oaf!" Shizen punched Kouba in his chest. His fists just bounced off his slippery skin. " Uh…" Shizen leaned next to Kouba and touched his chest hair. " Now listen, Kouba, about that whole me calling you an oaf, you have to realize—"

Rorrrraaaaa!"

Kouba's brawny hands grabbed Shizen's hands and squeezed them with his steel hands. Shizen shuddered, his bones were being crushed, and Shizen grunted being squeezed.

" _That man looks like he might need some help_," the young artist thought watching Shizen grunt in agony. " _But I can't interfere with art. Seeing this pain is really driving my inspiration crazy." _

" You let him go, you big bully!" Kokoro exclaimed while she held Hen up. " If you break even one bone on my friends body, you're going to pay!"

" Oh really?" The hulk Kouba smirked crushing Shizen with his arms. " And what do you think you can do? Do you really think you or that small girl in your arms can do any real dama—"

" Girl?" Hen said. Hen wasn't too happy hearing "Girl" as he awakened from his comatose state. " Girl!" Hen's rage boiled over. The kanji symbol水 appeared over his head. " GIRL! Water Release: Gunshot!"

Hen kneaded his chakra, and converted it into water, and then spat it out in the form of condensed balls. The water had enough power to kill as an actual gunshot, but Hen only used half his chakra to make his attack less lethal.

The condensed water ball pushed Kouba back as he was pushed in the wall with the rest of the men wearing yutaka's. Shizen was falling towards the ground, was released from Kouba and was heading for the ground, but Kokoro caught him with her long arms.

" Hmf," Kokoro glared at Shizen while she held him in her arms. " Let's get something straight. I only like you as a friend; there's someone else I care about. And if you touch me anywhere perverted, I will—"

Kokoro shuddered as she felt something fondling her breasts. She looked at Shizen and saw his arms were groping her breasts and squeezing them. Kokoro was enraged by this. Her face burned red and her head was steaming—but she felt another tingling sensation on her rear end; Mazu the dog was sticking his nose up her rectum.

" Whatever these are feel good." Shizen smiled while he kept fondling Kokoro's chest.

" Auuuuughhhh!" Kokoro turned around and dropped Shizen. She then pulled her leg back and kicked Shizen. Shizen was pushed into Maru, both were pushed forward, and they both crashed into the restaurant wall. " YOU TWO ARE NOTHING BUT FILTHY, PERVERTED ANNIMALS!"

" Rowwwwwr," Shizen moaned like a dog after he just been hit.

" _This…this can't really be happening," _the artist thought while he observed the fight from the safety of his chair. " _Never have I seen such beauty in fighting before. I must see more."_

OOO

Hen, Shizen, Kokoro, and joining them was Mazu who was joining them as they were heading back to their home—their hut in the woods. Shizens' bones were broken from the fight as he was wiped out cold, so Hen had to carry him; Kokoro didn't want to touch him.

" I can't believe the police force arrived on the scene of the restaurant no sooner than when I just defeated that tube of lard. " Hen said while he still walked with Shizen and Kokoro to their hut.

" I can't believe you just defeated a man three times your size," Kokoro said while she still walked. " All that training really paid off, eh, Hen." Kokoro grabbed Hen and stuffed his face between her cleavage. She smiled while she shaked Hen's small, girly body around. " But your still our cute little girl."

" Kokoro, quiet it!" Hen exclaimed.

Hen pushed on Kokro's chest to pry himself out. Hen felt her areola's through her kimono while he was pushing, then he jumped fell out of Kokoro's arms and landed safely on the ground.

" Oh Hen, you naughty girl," Kokoro tittered while her face was red, " You just can't seem to want to keep your hands off me_."_

" You're the one who hugged me," Hen retorted.

" Tee-hee. By the way, Hen—" Kokoro pointed at Mazu who was besides Hen and was licking him on his right hand. " What are we going to do about that dog?"

" Well, Kokoro, I was thinking we could—wait." Hen spun his body around as he looked to where he heard a voice and growled. " Alright, whoever is watching us, you better come out before I keel' hull ya!"

" What? Who are you talking to, Hen?"

" Just you wait. Water Release: Gunshot!"

Hen spat another large ball of water out of his mouth. The water rocketed into the sky, fell down, and made a giant splash on the ground.

" OI!" Someone cried in pain. " Hot! Hot! Hot! That's scalding hot water!"

The young artist in the restaurant jumped out. He was soaked in scalding hot water, was in deep pain, but held his photobook above his head. A tick of sweat rolled down both Hen and Kokoro's heads as they were both shocked.

" Are you okay?"Hen asked with much concern in his voice.

" Yes. My picture book didn't get wet."

" I was talking about you not your picturebook!"

" And who the heck are you?" Kokoro asked.

" Oopies. It looks like I haven't introduced myself." The young artist sprang up and stood on both his legs. He bowed to Hen and Kokoro who had even more ticks of sweat come out of their faces. " I am the great pupil of the Great Kawi. And I am here to bring art to this world."

" We asked for your name," Hen said as more sweat dripped down his face. " Nobody asked you what you do for a living."

" Forgive me for following you, but I was enticed by what I believe to be the prettiest of all girls."

" Aw shucks,"Kokoro reacted as she tried hiding her red face with her kimono. " That's very flattering of you. I have been thinking of one day doing a little modeli—huh?"

The pupil of Kawi wasn't referring to Kokoro; he wasn't even looking at her. The person he was talking about was…Hen? The man had his arms out and he squeezed Hen's hands.

" You're the prettiest thing my eyes have ever seen."

" Uh, thank you."

" Please, I need to model you." The man took out his photobook and flipped through the pages. There were many different things in the book—tigers, leaves, trees, lakes, kimono's—but even though they were well drawn, the artist just skipped through them. " See, none of my drawings are any good."

" Uh, I think they look really nice."

" But you…" The artist stopped at a picture of Hen. Hen flinched at the sight of it. The person was indeed him, a person wearing a kimono, having long eyelashes, twinkling eyes, and long hair. " You inspire ME!"

" Wow, you look cute in these pictures, Hen," Kokoro said as he leaned her head on Hen's right shoulder and looked at the picture of him. " You look like a very cute girl."

" But I'm a—" Kokoro cupped her hand on Hen's mouth before he could say a word. With her best phony smile, Kokoro took the young artists hands and shaked them. " Sure, we'll let you model our special girl Hen. But you have to pay my three-hundred percent interest."

" Yes, ma'am! Please let me draw your cute friend before the end of the day. My deadline is on midnight tonight." The artist took out a small piece of paper, scribbled on it, then he gave it to Kokoro. " Here's my address. Be sure to have your friend show up here nice and clean. I will pay you when my work is admired by my editor. Ciao."

The young artist turned around as he slowly ran the other way. As he was running, Hen was dumbfounded about everything while Kokoro just snickered to herself. " Well, he seems like a nice guy, Hen."

" Eeeeeeeeeeeeee," Hen groaned from him being surprised. " _I have to model in front of a guy_? _But I'm a boy. Boys shouldn't be modeling."_

" Oof, that reminds me," the young artist stopped running and turned around. "I must say, I was surprised with your friend there. You and her must be great friends. If she didn't jump up when she did, it would have been you that would have been hit by that bottle of sake."

" W-what?"

" Anyways, ciao."

The artist ran as fast as he could back to his house. He soon disappeared under the dark shadows of the small houses. The only thing Kokoro could see now was two injured men—Hen and Shizen—and how they were both pressing next to her. Shizen was unconscious from having his bones broken, but Hen was pondering too much to think straight.

" _Hen really tried to save me_?" Kokoro continued to think to herself, remembered the whole coincidence, than she shaked her head. " No, that sounds ridiculous. I'm pretty sure he just woke up and happened to get in the way of the bottle. Anyways, I better get him pampered up. We have to get him modeling."

" Eeeeeeeeeeee."


	11. Chapter 11

(**A/N: I wanted the last chapter to be longer, but I thought it would be better if it ended the way it did. The last chapter may've had fighting, but it was more about their antics. When there is a chapter that involves fighting, it will be somewhere between 4000 to 10000 words long; maybe even longer. I don't know. It just seems like the episodes in Naruto are longer when there's fights in it. Now enjoy this chapter and please review what you think.)**

**OOO**

" Ugghhhhhh," Shizen moaned as he rubbed his aching head. Ow, my head. What the heck happened to me."

Shizen was in the greatest place he could be—his own room—with a major headache. Shizen continued to groan while he rubbed his green hair and spaced out looking around. Then he noticed a small girl walk by his door. The girl was as tall as Hen; 4'10, had long dark blue hair, creamy fair skin, blue eyes, wearing an attire of loose fitting, long-sleeved, lavender and cream zip-up jacket with lavender cuffs over mesh armor with navy blue pants and black, low-heeled sandals. Around the girls neck was a blue scarf tied up like a bandana. The girl walked past Shizen's room as she didn't see him, and Shizen was drooling with lecherous eyes.

" Hello hotty!" Shizen ran out of his bed and ran into the hallway tailing the beautiful girl. He then found the girl walking through the hall. She seemed to see Shizen tailing her, acted skittish, then scampered away from Shizen. " Hey, where are you going, beautiful? Come back!"

" Stay away from me!" The girl shouted as she ran away from Shizen. " Stay awa—"

The girl tripped as she tried running around the corner. She nearly broke her tibia, but managed to land on her bum instead of landing on her legs. Shizen then snuck up behind the girl and groped her flat chest in her small body.

" My, you are very sensitive," Shizen leered squeezing the girls flat chest. " It's a shame there's hardly anything for me to squeeze. Maybe if I message your chest, you'll get bigger—"

" GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME!"

The girls' body dissolved into a puddle of water. Shizen stood near the puddle, poked his fingers in it, then he jumped back when a flap of the puddle elongated out and slapped Shizen's hand.

" Ow!" Shizen shouted after being flapped. Shizen took out his index finger in his right hand and sticked it in his mouth. Like a baby, making a baby face, Shizen sucked on his finger. " _Damn that hurt. Who'd want to do that to me_?"

The puddle started to elongated, spanned out and morphed together. The puddle of water morphed into a human being, but his outer exterior was still made out of water. Then soft, creamy skin formed from the watery figure as Hen (wearing his clothes) appeared.

Hen felt violated, was upset with Shizen, shouted, " Shizen, you jerk! I'm sick and tired of all your pervy ideals."

" Hen?" Shizen took his finger out of his mouth and he clamped his hands on Hen's shoulders, smiled. " Is that really you, Hen?"

" Of course it's me. Gack! Sometimes, Shizen, you can be such an idiot. What were you thinking trying to grope me?"

" I'm sorry, Hen, but I thought you looked like a hotty just a second ago. Not too say you don't look cute just the way you are, but that other girl looked hotter."

" Gee, thanks," Hen said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes and sighed. " Kokoro, please fill him in. I don't want to talk to him right now."

" No problem, deary," Kokoro tittered walking into the room while trying to hide her laughter of hearing Shizen groping Hen. Hen walked behind Kokoro and Kokoro stood in front of Shizen. Looking into his eyes, seeing how curious he was, Kokoro smiled. " See, while you were sleeping, Hen got a job."

" A j-job?" Shizen blinked his eyes hearing what Kokoro said, but then he smiled. " That's wonderful, Hen. I'm so happy for you."

" Don't be," Hen retorted as he rolled his eyes. " It's something you wouldn't want to be in."

" Huh? What do you mean?"

" Hen, my dear Shizen, got a job as a model."

" Whaaaaaaattttt?! A model? What type of model?"

" Oh, it's not what you think, Shizen. Hen only got a job as a model for a student in an art school. He's just going to be sitting, probably with his clothes still on, and he's going to be drawed."

" Still, Hen got a job as a model? Why couldn't I get a job as a model? I'm way taller, stronger and more handsome than Hen. It should be me getting drawed, drinking wine, scoring Kunoichi girls, and saying stuff like ' eat your vegetables if you want to grow up strong like me, kids'."

" Woah, woah, woah, woah," Hen said interrupting what Shizen was saying. " Don't you think you're exaggerating everything that's being told to you, Shizen. It's not like that." Pink smoke puffed out around Hen's body, then the pretty, voluptuous girl from before appeared. The sight of her made Shizen's nose bleed. " I'm just going to do the modeling, like this, make him happy, then I'm going to shake his hand and come back home. I still need to train for the next phase of the exams tomorrow, and nothing is going to stop (angry) ME!"

" Alright, alright, alright, try to just calm down for one second, Hen," Kokoro soothed, she moved behind Hen and massaged his back. " We'll be doing as much training as you want. I know you want to be a strong warrior, Hen, but we just need the money if we ever hope to live together."

Hen finally calmed down while his back was being massaged by Kokoro, sighed, said, " I'm sorry I yelled like that, Kokoro. I don't know why I'm so stressed. I've always wanted to be a doctor, wanted to practice in the medical fields, but I just don't want to fail the exam and go home to see my mother's disappointed face."

" I can understand everything you must be going through, Hen." Kokoro held her arms around Hen's waist and started squeezing him as her breasts pushed into his back and Hen's cheeks became tinted red. " I too have someone I don't want to disappoint. Sure, he might be small, more feminine than manly, but he's still someone I hold dear too me."

Hen was beyond embarrassed—he was entranced—Kokoro's soft breasts and warm hands got too his head. While he was caressed by Shizen not too long ago, Hen didn't mind being touched by Kokoro; he actually enjoyed it. But as he was being held, both he and Kokoro, who's cheeks were also tinted red, became raspy.

Kokoro…"

" Hen…"

" _Cool," _Shizen thought watching Kokoro holding Hen and pressing her breasts against her back. " _Some female skinship. Now all that's missing is the skin." _Shizen crawled up too Hen's front, reached his hands out and squeezed Hen's chest, then he twisted his nipples._ "_Hen, take off your clothes! I want to see some of your man nippl—"

" EEEEEEKKKKK!"

SMACK!

OOO

Hen and Kokoro travelled to the address where the young artist Kawi was staying. Shizen was also travelling with Hen and Kokoro, but he kept his distance as Hen had the anger ten times the amount of a Bengal lion. Kokoro trickled sweat down her head as she was slightly scared of Hen.

" Umm, don't you think you were a little too rough with Shizen back there, Hen?" Kokoro asked as sweat trickled from her head.

" No!" Hen quickly shouted back. " He deserved what he got! He's always doing stupid things, but this time he's gone too far!"

" Come on, Hen, you know Shizen. He's a good guy; he's just a little confused is all. Aren't you a little complexed?"

" Yeah, I guess he is a nice guy. Nice enough to think of me as a friend; no one's ever wanted that from me before. But when he touched me, it felt like he was touching my mother."

" Huh? Why would you think he's touching your mother when he's touching you, Hen?"

" You see this? Do you see how I look? This is how my mother looked when she was 16 years old and a Chūnin on Team 8. She used to show me photos of her and her friends—Naruto,Sakura, Kakashi, Kiba, Choji, Ino, and Shikamaru—the rest of them I have no idea. But she would fawn every time she hears the name Naruto."

" Naruto? Maybe it's her husband she's referring too. Isn't your daddy anyone of those guys in the pictures, Hen?"

" No, you might not believe it, but I don't have a dad."

" Oh, did your dad pass away? Or did he maybe leave you and your mother?"

" No, mom always said she was surrogate from ever being with a man. She says she was crying when Naruto left when she was twenty-two, found a shrine, begged the deities of the shrine for his safe return, then the next day she was pregnant. At least that's what she told me."

" That does sound a little unorthodox, Hen. I've never heard of that ever happening to anyone."

" Well it happened to me—eeeeeekkkkk!"

" Hen, you scream like a little girl."

A man sneaked up behind Hen—he thought he was a girl just like everyone else did—he grabbed _her _tush and squeezed it. Hen's timid, feminine side started to take effect, his cheeks were tinted red, and his breath became raspy.

" Such firm hamstrings you have here, miss," the man squeezing Hen said in a very sneering tone. " Such a firm ass like this must be closely watched. Why don't you follow me and I'll—"

" Shove OFF!"

Kokoro, whom had the strength of a raging tiger when she was angry, lifted the sneaky man's legs and whacked him on the ground. After she did that, she quickly raised him over her head, breathed shortly, then she whacked him on the ground again. The man's eyes spinned in circles after being whacked.

" You-_ack-_little-_ack-_bitch!" The man groaned being whacked on the ground. " I'll-_ack_-kill_-ack_-you!"

" Yeah, like that's ever going to happen, loser," Kokoro retorted as she sneered her teeth at the man, smiled. " Why don't you take a little time to rethink your life." Kokoro smacked both her hands against the mans' head. The arms gave him a headache, making him tired, drowsy, he fell on the ground and collapsed.

" Hey, you two, hello!" Kawi shouted as he ran towards Kokoro and Hen. Kokoro and Hen both turned their heads forward and saw Kawi running towards them. He carried blank portraits, paintbrushes, and was wearing glasses over his eyes. " What a great coincidence. I was just out looking for the newest issue of my favorite magazine, and you I just happened to bump into you two."

" Er, yeah, nice to see you too, Kawi," Hen stuttered as he timidly fiddled with his fingers and stared at the ground. " I'm, er, ready for that modeling you, er, wanted me to do."

Kawi stopped running, raised his thumbs up, said ecstatically, " Great. I want to draw you as soon as possible." Kawi ran up to Hen, grabbed his warm girly arms and ran with him too his apartment building, smiled. " I'll lead the way."

" Hey, wait for me, you two," Kokoro said running after Kawi who was dragging Hen along with him. Kokoro got a good look at Hen, looked him straight in his eyes, pouted. " _He should have a real woman to model. Hen may look cute, but I should be the one getting the glamor." _Kokoro finally sighed and smiled. " _Oh well. Since I'm there, I might as well take a few things. Hehehehehe."_

Kokoro followed Kawi as he was pulling on Hen. While she ran, Kokoro giggled too herself and chuckled. Kawi then turned around and ran into an alley with Kokoro following him in there. Hen, Kokoro, and Kawi all disappeared into the darkness of the alleyway as they headed too Kawi's house.

Shizen then appeared in the streets. He ran off in the direction Hen and Kokoro were travelling, but he tripped on the man Kokoro roughed up.

" Oooh!" Shizen fell face first on the ground. Shizen got up, then he got up and stared at the man. " Hey, are you okay?"

" T-that bitch hurt me," the man groaned.

" Huh? Hurt you? Who'd want to hurt yo—"

" Hold it right there!" A Shinobi police officer shouted behind Shizen. Shizen flinched at the sound of his voice and raised his hands up. " Sir, you better tell me what happened, or I have no choice but to rest you!"

" Huh? What are you talking about?"

" I have you for assault and domestic disturbance, sir! If you can't prove your innocence in five seconds, I'm going to arrest you!"

" I-I didn't do anythi—"

" He…hurt me…" The man groaned pointing his fingers out, which were pointing at Shizen.

" Ooh, looks like we have a confession." The Shinobi police officer punched both his fists together and smirked. " I am so going to enjoy this."

" Ahhhhhh! Hen, Kokoro, help!"

Shizen ran away from the police officer. While he was running, the police officer scurried after him. Shizen used his strong stamina, jumped on the roof of a shop, the police officer jumped on the roof of the shop, and the chase persuaded between them.

" _Hen, Kokoro, where are you_?"


	12. Chapter 12

(**A/N: I wanted the last chapter to be longer, but I thought it would be better if it ended the way it did. The last chapter may've had fighting, but it was more about their antics. When there is a chapter that involves fighting, it will be somewhere between 4000 to 10000 words long; maybe even longer. I don't know. It just seems like the episodes in Naruto are longer when there's fights in it. Now enjoy this chapter and please review what you think.)**

**OOO**

**Hen was sitting by a window with his hair long and wearing a turquoise blue kimono. He was on his knees with his hands on his knees and was letting Kawi paint him sitting with his hands on his knees as Kokoro was standing besides Kawi and laughing at the picture of Hen putting his hands on his knees. **

**" _This doesn't feel as weird as I thought it was going to_," Hen thought while he tapped his fingers on his knees. " _It actually feels kind of nice. But it makes me feel so…" _ Hen got angry and clenched his fists into balls while he shaked from his anger. " _Beautiful_! _Dammit Kokoro, how could you make me feel this beautiful—" _**

**_" _****Um, Hen, I can't draw your arms when their all balled up like that," Kawi said while he still painted Hen's portrait. **

**" Huh?" Hen noticed how his hands were balled up like fists, gasped, and he quickly rubbed the back of his head. " Hahahaha. Sorry. I just had a little spasm with my hands for a second."**

**Hen returned to his original pose of his hands on his knees. But while Kawi was only drawing what he saw, Kokoro peeked her head down and looked at the portrait of Hen, and she tisked. **

**" This just won't do."**

**" Huh?" Kawi stopped painting. He looked up at Kokoro. He was confused with her disappointed expression. " What seems to be the problem miss Kokoro? Is my art not that good?"**

**" No, it's not that. It's just how Hen is showed. I don't like it one bit." **

**" Then how would you like Hen to be showed." **

**" Well…" A deviant smile spread across Kokoro's face. She pulled a long loincloth out and rubbed it on Kawi's face. " We can make Hen wear this! This is way better than that stinky kimono—"**

**" Kokoro, knock it off!" Hen took off one of his wooden sandals and threw it at Kokoro's head. The sandal bounced off her head and Kokoro dropped the loincloth. " It's embarrassing just having people look at me! The last thing I want is too wear something as trashy as a loincloth!" **

**Kokoro was about to fall down but managed to stand back up. The words that helped Kokoro stand up was " trashy" and " loincloth". Hearing Hen say such things too her made her upset. Hearing it from the man she had feelings for, Kokoro cried from her eyes.**

**" T-trashy?" Kokoro clenched both her fists together, turned around and she ran away. " Hen, you idiot! Wahhhhhh!" **

Kokoro ran away from Kawi and Hen. As she left, Hen felt a strange ping of guilt inside his chest. He didn't know why, but he felt insecure watching Kokoro cry.

" _I-I actually made Kokoro cry_." Hen looked down and shaked his head in vexation for what he had done. " _I'm such a jerk. I don't know how Kokoro's ever going to forgive me…" _Hen's brain hatched an idea. As he was still posing for Kawi, Hen could only simper thinking about his idea. " _I know. Maybe I will go and buy her some soba. People always feel better when they've had something to eat." _

" You're doing really good right now, Hen," Kawi said to the long haired _female _in front of him. " Just a few more strokes and I should be done."

" _Great. When it's done, I'll go buy Kokoro that soba."_

OOO

Shizen was running for his life from A Shinobi police officer. Shizen could tell the police officer chasing him was of a Konoha Military Police Force because no one else could be as fast as them.

Shizen nimbly jumped over rooftops and shops, ran on the dirt road, and hide in a few crowds. But no matter how much he ran, jumped, or even hid, the Shinobi police officer was always right behind him.

" _How am I going to lose this guy_?" Shizen thought while he was running for his life. " _There's no way I can reason with these guys even though none of what happened was my fault." _

" Slow down!" The Shinobi police officer shouted behind Shizen. " There's no use trying to escape me! I'm taking you in!"

" _Geez, talk about a one track mind. It seems like all he wants to do is chase people. Maybe…" _

Shizen saw an open window to an apartment off the ground. Seeing his window of opportunity, Shizen jumped off the ground and went straight through the window.

The Shinobi police officer stopped. He knew he couldn't follow Shizen into someone else's help without permission. The officer turned right, made sure there were no civilians still walking around, and he dashed so fast that wind blowed behind him.

" You can't escape from me! I'll catch you on the other side."

**OOO**

Shizen didn't know whose apartment he was in. The walls were pure white and there was furniture everywhere. The furniture included a bed, desk, bookcase, commode, dresser, a table with three chairs and a coffee table. Shizen heard the sound of running water in the bathroom.

" Is someone taking a bath?"

Shizen without thinking ran to the entrance of the bathroom and looked inside. There was steam, a bathtub full of water, and the house owner—a woman—with towels around her soaked, cleaned body. Her hair was brown and in pigtails, she was slim, and her she had two paperclips holding her pigtails.

" Hubba Hubba," muttered Shizen as he leered at the naked girls' body. " Hello, hello. My name is—"

The sound of Shizen's voice started the girl. She opened her hazel eyes, looked at Shizen peeking at her, then she shrieked, " Eeeeeekkkkk!"

The girl pulled out a Shuriken from her towels and threw it at Shizen's head. The Shuriken was too dull to get any deeper into Shizen's skull, but blood squirted out of his head and Shizen screamed like a banshee.

" Owwwwwwwwwwww!"

Without knowing it, Shizen released a large wooden spike like the one he used in the restaurant protecting Hen and made a giant hole in the girls' wall. Shizen fell through the hole and landed on his back.

" Owwwwwwwww!"

" Pervert!"

OOO

Shizen was in great pain. He could hardly fell his right arm and was using his left arm trying to pull the Shuriken out of his head. It was harder than he thought, the Shuriken was lodged in his head deeper than he imagined, but he finally pulled it out.

" Ow."

As he held the Shuriken in his arms, he noticed small drops of blood on one of the points. The very sight of the blood made Shizen shudder, he tried wiping it off, but accidentally slipped and had the point jab him in his hand.

" Owwwww." Shizen then pulled out the Shuriken in his hand using his other hand. He threw the Shuriken away and like a cat he licked his wound. " _That girl was crazy. Who carries a Shuriken in their bath robes? Somebody needs to teach her a lesson—"_

" Excuse me!" A loud voice shouted above Shizen.

Shizen looked up and shuddered seeing another Shinobi police officer standing above him. The officer looked the exact same as the last one, but the one standing over him had stitches on his right eye.

" Um, is there anything I can do for you , officer—"

The police officer handed a piece of bark that looked like a wallet to Shizen. Shizen blinked at the wallet, reached into his robes, and realized he didn't have his wallet on him.

" Here. I saw you drop this. I was just returning it to you."

" Really?" Shizen grabbed the wallet and pulled it out of the police officer's hand . " Thanks. I don't know what I'd do without this—"

" Officer!" The voice of the girl Shizen peeped on shouted. "Officer, stop that man! That man is a peeping tom! He was in my house and looking at me in my shower!"

" What? Nobody gets away with peeping no my block! Prepare to—where'd he go?"

" Officer, he's over there!"

Shizen was running as fast as he could to get away from both the officer and the crazy girl. Shizen was so far away from them but he kept running from the fear that one of them would catch up.

" Got to find Hen and Kokoro! Got to find Hen and Kokor—"

Just like he feared, the Shinobi police officer was catching up to him. Shizen was fast, but the officer was faster. He ran alongside Shizen and tried swiping him with his hands, but Shizen ducked and jumped over his hands before he could touch him.

" Stand still! You're coming with me!"

" Nooooooo!'

Shizen picked up the pace. He moved twice as fast as he did before and pushed a cloud of dirt into the Shinobi officer's face. The officer wiped the dirt from his eyes, looked up, and saw a small shadow of Shizen while he was running away, smiled.

" Ooh, this is going to be the most fun I had all morning."

OOO

Kokoro was sitting outside the entrance of the building where Kawi was painting Hen. Kokoro was sad, had hatred for Hen, and was heartbroken thinking about him. Kokoro shaked her head and kicked the dirt under her feet.

" _How could Hen say that to me_?" Kokoro thought while she kicked more dirt under her feet. " _I thought he was different than most men. I thought he actually cared about me. But I guess he doesn't understand me just like everybody else. I'm such an idiot for believing in him."_

" Hey, you there, that's the girl I was telling you about!" Kokoro looked up and saw the man who was feeling Hen's butt not too long ago. He was bleeding from his lower lip, looked terrible, and looked like he couldn't even lift his arms. But surrounding the men were dozens of people who looked just like him with kunai's, shuriken's, and katana's. " That's the girl I was telling you about!"

" That little wench actually did that to you?" One of the men asked.

" Yeah! Let's teach her a lesson!"

" Yeah!"

" I'm in no mood for this!" Kokoro shouted. " The man I care for just broke my heart! But if that's the way you want to play it, then so be it!"

Kokoro's rage was of a flaming tiger. She had the claws, anger, and even flames burned from her body while her hair stood up. Two men charged at her and prepared to punch her, but Kokoro caught their hands and squeezed them.

" Hen…" Kokoro raised both her hands out and then banged both their heads together. " Hen, you jerk!" More men threw shuriken's at Kokoro. She used her quick reflexes to catch all of them. " You jerk!" Kokoro quickly threw the shuriken's at multiple men's chests and they all fell down. The remaining men dashed at her with kunai's and katana's in their hands. " HEN!"

Kokoro's hands became encased with flames. Her hands became sharp as steel, she chopped them at their kunai's and katana's, and the metal of their weapons melted into puddles. In just a few seconds, Kokoro defeated every one of them. It wasn't until they were all down did she sober from her anger and actually started to think.

" Now that I think about it, I didn't really tell Hen about my history with Loincloth's." Kokoro smiled and banged her own head while she sticked her tongue out. " I can be such a ditz sometimes. I should go back to Hen and apologize right away."

" You're not going anywhere, wench!" one of the bandits shouted. Kokoro was too busy thinking about how she was going to make up with Hen to pay attention to the big, heavy bandit stomping towards her. The man was over 250 ibs, didn't wear a shirt and only had a pair of baggy pants on him, he raised a large tree over Kokoro's head and prepared to drop it on Kokoro. " I'm going to crush yo-"

" Hen!" Kokoro jumped on the large man and hugged him. Unlike most hugs, Kokoro was squeezing the 250 pounds of fat like it was made out of rubber. The man's insides were being crushed by Kokoro's arms as he tried very hard to breath in some air. " Oh Hen, I'm sorry! Please don't be mad at me! I was just—huh?"

Kokoro felt the iron bones in the man's muscles and realized he wasn't Hen. Angry, upset, Kokoro's cheeks expanded like a chipmunk in order to repress her anger. But she then punched the 250 pound man and sent him flying into a small building. He crashed on contact and was knocked out cold from the concrete.

" You're not Hen! My Hen feels much nicer than you!" Kokoro gave one big " Humph" and turned around. She kept her chin up while she walked towards the entrance to Kawi's home and walked inside. " I wonder where Shizen is. I could really use a punching bag right now."


	13. Chapter 13

(**A/N: And now we draw to the conclusion of the writer's part. It may be another chapter long, but I promise you won't regret reading it. Now please enjoy this chapter and please review what you think.) **

**OOO**

Shizen couldn't believe his eyes. First there was one person defeated at the doors of the building and now there were dozens of men lying defeated. There were large bumps protruding out their heads, their eyes were twirling around in circle, and some even groaned from their mouths.

" W-what happened here?" Shizen gasped as he looked at bodies of all the people knocked out cold. " Who could have done something like this to them?"

" YOU!" The familiar voice of a Shinobi policemen shouted behind Shizen.

Shizen turned around and saw it wasn't one but two of the Shinobi police officers. The same one who started chasing him when he was accused of hurting the first man and the one who chased him when he was accused of being a peeping tom. Both smiled at Shizen and cracked their knuckles.

" No, wait, I can explain! I didn't do any of this—"

" Get him!"

"Ah!"

Shizen was once again in a chase to get away from the police officers. Only he knew he wouldn't be able to outrun them. Realizing this, Shizen noticed the entrance to the building, and Shizen made a run towards it.

" He's getting away!"

" Well, don't just stand there! Let's get him!"

Shizen crashed through the door of the building and kept running. Both Shinobi officers also went through the door and chased after Shizen. Little did any of them know, a great horror was waiting for them inside.

OOO

" Hen!" Kokoro shouted when she opened the door to where Kawi was working. " Hen, I'm sorry I was so rude to you before! Hen, I love—"

" Shush!" Kawi interrupted Hen as he was drawing his painting. " I'm working. I'm endeavored to finish this."

Kokoro was both upset and happy. She was upset that she was interrupted, but her anger quickly went away when she saw how *cute* Hen looked. Just like she wanted, he was wrapped in loincloth. He was still wearing the same kimono Kawi made him wear, but his stomach was wrapped with loincloth. Seeing Hen with loincloth, Kokoro's eyes sparkled like diamonds.

" So cute. Ooh."

Hen was silent. Hen had to be silent to help Kawi paint him. His right hand that was hidden on the other side of his body however kept stroking the loincloth. With every stroke he did, he thought more and more about his time with Kokoro.

" _Now that I think about it, I never really had much merit in wondering who my father was. But do I even have a father? Is there even a person I can call my father? I just have to know."_

_" **There's nothing to be sulking about, Hen**," _Hen's consciousness said inside Hen's mind. " **_In time, I'm sure everything will be explained to you in time._**_" _

_" But I don't know. Why would I even think that?" _

_" **I'm sure in time everything will be explained to you." **_

" It's done!" Kokoro shouted with much joy in her voice. " It's finally completed."

Hen flinched at the sound of Kokoro's voice. It was then he realized Kawi finally finished painting him. With much relief, Hen sighed from his breath. He got up and ran over to Kawi to stare at his own picture.

It was beautiful. The entire frame of the picture itself was beautiful—ironically it made Hen look beautiful as well. In the picture Hen was kneeling down like he was before, only there was much more shade, and every part of him looked more colorful and detailed, Hen just thought it seemed absolutely beautiful.

" This is a good picture," said Hen without taking his eyes off of it. " I like it."

" Why of course you do, Hen," Kokoro said while she smiled. " It's a picture of you. And I think you look like an adorable little girl. Tee-hee."

" Watch it!" Hen growled at the sound of "girl". A small anger cruciform popping vein popped out on the left side of his head.

" No! This is just awful!" Kawi shouted as he grabbed the picture and raised it above his head. " This just won't do!"

" Huh?" Both Hen and Kokoro said in unison and blinked their eyes.

" What's awful about it?" Hen asked blinking both brow of his eyes.

" Yeah. It looks good considering you even made Hen look beautiful. Even though it would look even better if it were me you drew."

" NOOOOOOO!" Kawi pulled on both sides of the picture and ripped it in half. Both Hen and Kokoro gasped at the sight of Hen's picture being trashed. " This isn't right. This isn't the woman I know!"

" W-woman?" Hen gabbled at the remark Kawi made. " W-wh-what woman?"

Hen was taken completely by surprise. It was then that Kawi kneeled down to Hen's level, grabbed both his arms with his _own _hands, and squeezed them as he leered into _his _own eyes.

" I've fallen in love with you, Hen. Please, please, will you please go out with me so I can study your inner beauty."

" W-wh-wh….wha…w-wha…"

Hen couldn't pronounce his words properly. They were all gabbled by Kawi's eyes that were leering at him. Kokoro was also surprised by Hen's reaction. A cruciform ticked out of her head and she clenched her fists.

" _That man. What the hell does he think he's doing? I'm going to kill him."_

" W-wh-wh…wha…w-wha…"

" Please, Hen, tell me your answer. I need to know what you thi—"

" Ah!"

Kawi, Hen, and Kokoro all flinched at the sound of Shizen's voice. Kawi, Hen, and Kokoro both turned their heads to the door that lead to Kawi's room. And then from the door Shizen ran in with a distraught look on his face.

" Shizen?" Kokoro blinked looking at the distraught Shizen running towards her. " What is going on—"

" Ah! Their after me! Ah!"

Shizen ran forward, crouched down, and he hide behind Hen. Shizen shivered with both his hands squeezing Hen's clothes. Hen was brought back into reality by the sound of Shizen's voice and saw two Shinobi police officers run into the room. Apparently they didn't seem to see Shizen because their heads looked everywhere besides where he was.

" Shizen, what did you do?" Hen asked looking at the two police officers.

" Please save me," Shizen whimpered as he squeezed on the sleeves of Hen's kimono. " These two are after me. I don't know why, but they think I'm responsible for beating up people. But I didn't do anything."

" _Uh-oh_," Kokoro thought as she listened to everything Shizen said intently. Kokoro then fiddled with her fingers as she yammered under her breath. " _Hee-hee, that could be my fault. I do get into all those fistfights, so maybe I'm the one to blame. But there's no way I can tell them that."_

One of the police officers turned his head around, looked at the three figures spectating them, said, " You there, woman, we need to talk to you."

" Me?" Kokoro asked as she pointed her fingers at her head. " Are you talking to me?"

" No, not you. I was talking about the girl with the loincloth."

" _Girl…?" _Hen froze at the sound "girl" and clenched both her hands. " _Did he just call me a girl?"_

The police officer ran up to Hen, pushed Kawi out of the way, and he stared down at Hen. " Yes, you, little lady, have you seen a man come in her with green hair?"

" _Lady? Girl?" _

" We have him down for domestic abuse, a debauchery of peeking into woman's homes, and possibly an onset of war against our village. That is why we must arrest him before he hurts a girl like you—"

" GIRL?!"

Hen was drowned with anger. Many cruciform's had burned from his head while he growled under his breath. The kanji symbol水 appeared on his head, while water splashed out of the ground, and the water became a whirlpool that spinned around Hen's body.

" I-AM-A-BOY! AHHHHHHHHH!"

BOOM!

A tsunami of water flooded out and spread everywhere throughout the room. The water soaked everything, running every one of Kawi's paintings, and also pushing everyone back. Kawi was startled by his paintings, but even more surprised by a certain predicament:

" _Hen is a boy? This can't be true." _

Like a flood after a monsoon, everything was washed away. Shizen, Kokoro, Kawi, and both of the Shinobi police officers were gone. Hen was all alone by himself, gasping in breath of air, and his face burned with the kanji symbol水. Hen was angry, but that soon vanished quickly and he returned to his original, meager self.

" Huh?" Hen looked all over the place forgetting everything that had happened and looked for Shizen, Kokoro, and Kawi. " Huh? I wonder where everyone went off too. And why do my feet feel wet? Somebody please tell me."

OOO

" Oh, so that man was part of an underground gang?" The police officer who first chased Shizen asked.

" And after you defeated one of them, he got his friends to come and attack you?" The second police officer who chased Shizen asked.

" Uh-huh," Kokoro nodded and then smiled. " I was barely able to stop them with my life."

" Well that's perfectly understandable. We're glad you're alright, miss."

_" Oh sure," _Shizen thought while he observed Kokoro talking to both police officers. " _They won't listen to me but they'll listen to a cute girl like her? I feel so degraded." _

" I guess I'll dispatch some of our men to rally up all the goons and send them back to our fort to ask them some questions. Good day to you, miss…"

" Kokoro, sir. Kokoro Huǒ. I'm a member of the Fūma clan."

" Very well. Good day to you, Kokoro. "

Both of the police officers disappeared in a cloud of smoke. As they were gone, Kokoro skipped away from the smoke and moved over to Hen who was sitting by himself.

" Are you alright, Hen? You did use a lot of chakra with that stunt you pulled. Maybe you want to rest your head on my shoulder—"

" I'm sorry, okay," said Hen who was depressed.

" Huh? What are you sorry about?"

" I'm sorry I yelled at you, Kokoro. It was wrong of me. I had no right to raise my voice, especially to a lady like you, and for that I'm sorry. I really think of you as someone I like being around Kokor—"

Hen felt something warm pressing against his back. They were soft. They felt just like a womans' breasts. Hen also felt a pair of arms squeezing his chest. Hen turned his head around and saw Kokoro's sad, crying face.

" That's not fair, Hen. I'm the one who should be sorry. I was just trying to put a smile on your face, but all I did was make you angry. I don't like it when you're angry, Hen. It's just not you."

" Kokoro?"

" Hen."

Meanwhile, Kawi stared at Kokoro as she was comforting Hen. Kawi mumbled small words out his mouth while he looked at Hen, and Shizen walked up behind Kawi and smacked him on his back.

" I know what it's like to be heartbroken. I have that feeling every time I get punched by a woman. But the fact is, these two are made for each other. They're both just too dumb to admit it. That's something you're just gonna have to fac—"

" It's perfect," Kawi said as he stared at Hen.

" Huh? What are you talking about?"

" It's perfect. The face of a woman in love with another woman. It's the greatest thing I have ever seen. I must draw it now." With much inspiration, Kawi jumped up and pointed his fingers to the moon. " I will get it down right away. For I am going to be the greatest artist in the world. Hahaha."

OOO

The next day, Hen and Kokoro were sparling against each other. Hen's fists were covered with water, Kokoro's face was covered with flames, and they were both punching each other in the face.

Only after punching each other once did they both collapse. Hen and Kokoro just didn't want to fight anymore. They just didn't want to hurt each other. As they were down, Hen grabbed Kokoro's hands and squeezed it.

It was a perfect moment, at least until Hen's dog Mazu run up while wagging its tail. Mazu jumped on Hen's small body like it was attacking a pray and licked Hen's face.

" Stop it! That tickles!" Hen laughed as his dog was licking him. " Cut it out!"

" I guess that's what expected from a dog," said Kokoro as she was slightly angry. " I don't really like dogs. I'm more of a cat person."

" Hey guys!" Shizen shouted as he ran to the house where the three friends lived. " It's here!"

" What's here, Shizen?" Hen asked.

" Kawi's photo, it's finally here!"

" Already?" Kokoro asked. " A picture is suppose to take days to finish. Boy, he sure pulled out an all-nighter."

" Would you like to see it, Hen? I'm sure someone like you would actually like this."

" Hmmm. Okay. Let's see it."

Before Shizen showed the picture to Hen he took out it by himself. Shizen and Kokoro both looked at the picture. At looking at the picture for a brief second, both Shizen and Kokoro both flinched.

" T-this is…"

" This is…"

" W-what's wrong with the picture."

Shizen and Kokoro both stared at Hen at the same time. Shizen then passed the picture over to Hen. Hen blinked his eyes and looked at the picture, then he himself flinched at it. The picture was atrocious. It had Hen on it, only the background was pictures of flowers, he himself was standing on flowers, his body was wrapped around his chest which amplified he had bosoms, and had long eyelashes with innocent, big eyes.

" Bahahahahahaha!" Both Shizen and Koroko laughed together at the same time.

" Look, Hen is a girl in his picture!" Shizen laughed. " Bahahahahaha!"

" And he's also a cute girl!" Kokoro laughed. Bahahahahaha!"

" Grrrrrrrrrr." Hen growled while a dozen cruciform's came out of his head. Taking one big breath of air, Hen shouted at the top of his lungs, " I'M-A-BOY!"


	14. Chapter 14

(**A/N: Only one day left until the second part of the Team 7 Exam. Ooooooo. But that doesn't mean only one chapter left. I still have one thing I need to show you. I hope you enjoy it and please review to me what you think)**

**OOO**

In a village not too far from where Hen, Kokoro, or Shizen were living in, an old shaman was standing near a tree. The shaman's hair was forest green much like the hair of Shizen, he carried a wooden staff, had tree bristles in his hair, fur pelts for his clothes, and wore fur boots on his feet. The man groveled under the oak of the tree and staggered.

" No! It's dying! Our great Ki won't be with us much longer! If we don't get the necessary sacrifice soon, our Ki will die!"

" You needn't worry about such things, father," a man said behind the shaman. " I assure you, our village is doing well on its own."

The shaman turned around and looked at his son standing behind him. His son was a practitioner of martial arts as well as his wife. He wore the traditional dark-colored keikogi clothing made up of split-toed boots or jika-tabi and socks, a jacket overlapping lapels which tucked into his clothes, protective arm-and-hand sleeves, and an obi belt used to indicate his level of kyu or dan grade. The outfit was made of strong, typically dark-colored fabric, cotton, fitted loosely to allow the freedom of movement. He tucked inside was a hidden knife.

The mans' wife was near him. For some reason she just didn't want to keep her hands off of him. His wife has large, golden eyes and black hair with thick, square bangs. Her hair is arranged in long braids and cat ear-like buns, accompanied by a pink rose and a golden tassel on the left bun. She was a Kunoichi, had a forest green cheongsam, and two broad, ornamental clubs tied to her waist by a thin piece of rope. They are gold, blue, and maroon in color, and each club has blue tassel's on the top composed of heavy material. And whether it was from love or something other, she had her arms wrapped around his torso.

" We have been doing quite well since Shizen decided to leave us. I say we're all getting along quite splendidly, wouldn't you agree, wife?"

His wife didn't say anything. Either she was mute or she wasn't a very sociable person, she just stared at him for a brief second, nodded her head, then looked back at his torso.

" Nonsense! We need Shizen here immediately. We of the Senju _Clan_ need this tree to furnish our Wood Release ninjetsu. You as a member of the Senju Clan should already of know that. Yet not only do you refuse to believe anything I tell you, you've also married a woman outside of our clan? What do you have to say about that?"

" I am in no way troubled with my decision. She is the light of my day that I look up too. And not only does she make an excellent wife, she's also thorough in espionage. Wouldn't you agree, wife?" The girl nodded her head. " See. She can be quite salutary."

" Well ask her if she can find Shizen. He's the one who was suppose to be sacrificed, but that fool ran away before the liturgy could commence. I want him to be strapped of his pride and pinned down. And when he begs for forgiveness, I should be agnation to him. I shall give him a quick and painless burial."

OOO

Hen was playing fetch with Mazu. Hen was enjoying every moment with his dog. He was at first feeling agitated that tomorrow he would have more on the exams, tried hiding in his room studying, but was taking out by Mazu barging into his room.

" Mazu, I'm going to throw higher. Catch!"

The latitude and longitude of his throwing changed. He pulled his stick back and threw the stick even longer and higher than his last ones. But he didn't throw high enough as Mazu jumped up and caught the stick in his mouth.

" Yeah! Good boy! Who's a good boy? Yes you are. Yes you are."

" Rowf," Mazu barked at the top of his lungs. Mazu then ran up to Hen and jumped on top of him. Mazu pinned him down and licked Hen's face.

" Down boy! Down boy! Hahahaha!" Hen grabbed Mazu's snout and squeezed it with his hands. " Beat it! I told you No!"

Mazu whimpered at the sound of Hen's harsh voice and folded his ears. Hen realized he was being harsh to the poor dog, smiled, and rubbed his head. Mazu had a priceless look on his face, stomped his foot, and wagged his tail.

" I see you two are getting along just fine," Kokoro said while she walked up to Hen and Mazu. In Kokoro's arms were two bean buns. One was being eaten by Kokoro, but she threw the other one to Hen. " Here. You've been working hard. Enjoy your break."

" Ah, thanks for the bean bun, Kokoro." Hen took a bite from the bean bun. It tasted good to him, and he smiled at the taste of it. " Wow. This is good. Did you make this , Kokoro."

" Nope. I stole it from the supermarket."

" Pfffffffft!" Hen spat the bean bun in his mouth out. Unable to hold something stolen, he threw the bean bun away where it was caught by Mazu and swallowed whole. " You stole it! Kokoro, I thought you said you wouldn't steal anything again?"

" I said I might not do it again. Tee-hee. But sometimes you have to do what you got to do."

" Hey guys," Shizen said as he returned from town. In his hands he had a pile of magazines. " I'm famished. What are we having for dinner?"

" Dinner?" Kokoro retorted. " Shouldn't you be more focused on your training, Shizen? Out of all of us, you haven't done anything. If I were you, I'd be fretting right about now."

" What are you talking about? I'm not going to be fretting about anything. It's my life to live. So I'll be living it however I want. If I chose not to study for anything, then I won't study for anything."

" You're lazy, Shizen," Hen said to Shizen with a concerned look on his face. " If you don't change your ways now you probably won't be able to pass the Team 7 exam."

Shizen was shocked. He couldn't believe what either Hen nor Kokoro were saying. From his eyes, Shizen started to cry. His tears dripped down his eyelids, then he turned around and ran away. While running, Hen and Kokoro could hear his crying voice:

" Wahhhhhhhh!"

Shizen ran straight into the woods and disappeared from both Hen and Kokoro. Both Hen and Kokoro blinked at the sight of Shizen leaving them. Hen then sheepishly rubbed his hair.

" Do you think I was a little hard on him, Kokoro?"

" I don't know. This is Shizen we're talking about. I'm sure he'll come around."

" Yeah. I'm sure he'll come back to us and talk about whatever is bothering him."

OOO

Shizen was furious. He found an old tree in the woods and started punching it with his hands. While punching, tears dripped from his eyes and he sniffed his nostrils.

" Dammit!" Shizen stopped punching with his left arm and only used his right arm to punch. " Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!" Shizen's knuckles were bleeding by the time he stopped punching the bark. He used both his hands to thoroughly rub them, and he moaned while he rubbed them. " Their right, what chance do I have passing the exams? All I ever wanted was to get away from my family. Too them I'm the weakest link, but if I could just show them how powerful I am, then maybe they'd reconsider keeping me alive. But I guess I was just fooling myself."

" You certainly were, Shizen," a man said behind Shizen.

Shizen turned around and saw the face of his brother standing behind him and his wife with her hands wrapped around his torso. Shizen gasped looking at his brother.

" S-Sumire? W-what are you doing here?"

" I'm afraid I'm here to take you back with me, Shizen. You see, you still must become part of our ritual."

" No! I'll never go back home! If I have to fight you, then so be it! Shizen clapped both of his hands together. The kanji symbol木 appeared above his head. " Wood Release: Cutting Technique!"

Sharp wooden spikes like the one's he used in the restaurant with Hen were fired at Sumire. Sumire didn't move his legs. He just raised his left hand, smacked the spikes, and they all shattered into splinters when Sumire touched them.

" Your progression is just as vague as ever, Shizen. But I guess that's too be suspected from the weakest member of the Senju _Clan__. Now let me show you a real Wood Release ninjetsu. Wood Release: Vines of the Slavic!" _

_Shizen had no chance of countering an attack made by his brother. Vines came out of nowhere, wringled around Shizen's arms and legs, and lifted him above the ground. Shizen screamed in agony as his bones were being crushed. _

_" Scream all you want. This deep in the forest no one can hear you. Now I'm taken you back, and you are going to fulfill your servile duty. You're going to sacrifice yourself to Ki, and that I'm afraid is final."_

_OOO _

_Hen and Kokoro worked together. They ripped apart pieces of bark and hanged them above their shack. Using red paint, they painted the words Shizen, We're Very Sorry on the pieces of bark. _

_" There," Kokoro said as she finished hanging the pieces of bark. " That'll show that lazy, stupid pervert that we care about him. "_

_" Do you think he will actually like it, Kokoro?" Hen asked while he looked at the letters. " From what I can tell, I don't think Shizen can read."_

_" Oh well. I went to all this trouble to help you make this, Hen, so the least he can do for us is smile." _

_" I think it looks nice," another girl said. "Whoever thought of it is very artistic." _

_" Thank you," Hen turned around and smiled as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. " I'm not really good at art, but I can come up with creative ideas—"_

_Hen blinked at the sight of the girl. Standing beside her was __Sasuke_ Uchiha. The girl kinda looked like Sasuke. She too had fair skin and onyx eyes and black chin-length hair. But her hair was smooth with spiky bangs in the back with a forehead protector on her head. Her cloths consisted tradionally of the Uchiha clothing: a blue, short-sleeve shirt with high collar and the Uchiha crest on the back and white arm warmers. She had a belt around her waist and multiple shuriken's tucked in her belt.

" Hello, Hen Hinata," Sasuke said to Hen with his stern expression on his face. " Allow me to introduce you to my daughter, Tsuki."

" It's very nice to meet you," Tsuki said as she then bowed in the presence of both Hen and Kokoro. " My father has told me much about you."

" _I'm sure e told her we were bad or did bad things," _Kokoro thought while she glared at Tsuki. " _And his daughter…I don't think I like her."_

" Excuse us, but we're here to talk to you about your friend Shizen."

" What? Shizen?" Hen ran up to Tsuki and grabbed both her shoulders. " What is it about Shizen."

" Apparently…your friend Shizen has been kidnapped. And if our sources are right, we will be dead by tomorrow morning."


	15. Chapter 15

(**A/N: Yes, I'm sure some of you are probably wondering who Sasuke's mother is. And I'm sure some of you are wondering if she is going to be Hen's love interest. But just like every chapter of Naruto, you'll have to wait to find out. And sorry if this chapter is a little rushed. As I'm writing this there is no internet. But please review. I write better when there's reviews) **

**OOO**

"Gone?" Hen asked. " What do you mean gone? Where is Shizen?"

"That I do not know," Sasuke said. "We just have reports from someone that they saw your friend being assaulted and bragged away. Now, did your friend mention anyone who might have threatened him or was obsessed with him?"

"No. Shizen never said anything about anyone. The only people Shizen didn't get along with were random girls he met in the market, but I'm sure none of them wanted to hurt him—no, actually they wanted to hurt him because he was touching them, but none of them would go so far as too kidnap him."

"Well, someone did. And I'm too busy to help you. But I'm more than gracious to lend my daughter for this investigation. I taught her everything she knows about fighting and searching."

" It's a pleasure to meet you." Tsuki said again as she bowed her head again. " I look forward to us working together."

_" She is so cheeky," _Kokoro thought looking at Tsuki. " _I don't trust her for one second." _

" That is all. Goodbye."

Sasuke made hand signals and disappeared before Hen, Kokoro, and Tsuki's eyes. Tsuki was the least bit surprised. She ran into the woods, stopped, then turned around and looked at Hen and Kokoro in their eyes.

" Well, are you coming? You're not going to find your friend just standing around there."

" Okay, I'm coming. Kokoro, are you going to come with us?"

" Sure. I'm worried about Shizen too. _And I can keep an eye on this vixen to make sure she doesn't try to take Hen for her own." _

Tsuki, Hen, and Kokoro all dashed into the forest. They kept on running fully prepared for whatever troubles came their way.

OOO

Tsuki, Hen, and Kokoro were at the sight where Shizen had been taken. Tsuki was rubbing the dirt with her fingers. Hen was rubbing marks made in the tree. And Kokoro did absolutely nothing leaning next to a tree.

" Just what are you two doing?" Kokoro asked.

" We're tracking," Hen said, he continued rubbing the tree.

"Looks more like playing. What do you suspect to accomplish rubbing bark, Hen?"

" Just checking…" Hen noticed a vine at the end of the bark. He pulled on the vine. Pulling on the vine, he walked forward and saw a large hole in the dirt. As Hen looked at the hole he saw a symbol on the top of it. 千手一族, " Hello. What's this? I know this symbol. I read about it in one of my geography books."

" Hen Hinata. Is your name Hen Hinata?" Tsuki asked.

" Yes. Hengѐku Hinata. What is it?"

" You might want to look at this."

Hen was antsy. Yes hearing what Tsuki had to say made him nervous. He walked slowly towards Tsuki and he looked down at where she was pointing. He saw footprints. He followed the footsteps hoping they would lead him to Shizen, but the footsteps soon disappeared.

" That's weird. Where did the footsteps go?"

" Check the trees."

" The trees…" On the trees he saw footprints smashed through them. The footprints were the same as the one's on the ground. " So…whoever took Shizen moved through the trees."

"Exactly. So maybe if we retrace _their _steps, maybe it will lead you to your friend. "

" Worth a shot." Hen tried running up the bark with his feet, but he tripped and fell on his back. " Ow."

" Are you okay?"

" Yes. I'm just a little clumsy. "

" I'll say. You're not doing it right. When you do the Tree Climbing Practice you need to focus your chakra on your feet. And you must make sure your chakra isn't too low and isn't too high at the same time." Tsuki clapped both her hands together, then she ran up the tree with great ease and stood on the branch. " You try it, Hen."

" Are you sure? It looks a little dangerous."

" Come on. I'm here. I promise I won't let you fall."

" Well, if you say so." Hen took a deep breath and clapped his hands together. After taking a deep breath he ran towards the tree and prepared to run up, but unlike Tsuki he slipped again and almost fell down. " Ah!"

Only before he hit the ground Tsuki stretched her hand out and caught Hen. Hen may've been small but he was hefty. Tsuki had to use all her chakra to lift Hen on the branch.

" What do they feed you Genin today? Honestly, you need to work out."

" Sorry."

" Don't apologize to me. You're so silly."

Tsuki started to laugh. Unlike Kokoro who laughed whenever she had her way, Tsuki's laugh was more heart-warming, more gentle, it would lift anyone's spirits; she made Hen laugh as well. Both Tsuki and Hen laughed together. And as they did, Kokoro bit the sleeves of her clothes and clenched her hands.

" _You're so stupid, Hen. So doing this thing is hard to you? I'll show you just how easy it is_."

Kokoro sighed weakly and clapped both her hands together. She then dashed at the tree, jumped up trying to walk up the tree, but she just fell down like Hen did, but unlike Hen who needed Tsuki's help Hen caught Kokoro before she fell.

" Kokoro, hold on!" Because Hen wasn't as big as either Kokoro or Shizen he wasn't as strong. But Hen used up all the chakra he could muster and lifted Kokoro on the tree branch. Hen wheezed after helping Kokoro, whose face was red from her embarrassment, but he surprised her even further by grabbing her shoulders. " Are you okay? That fall could have been awful. I-I don't know what would happen if you were to get hurt."

Kokoro was speechless. Since the time she met Hen she never saw him so tense. Kokoro's heart wouldn't stop beating from his warm hands, but that all ended when she heard Tsuki's voice:

" I see more footsteps on the branches up ahead. Hen, get on my back. Since you're still just a Genin, you'll need my help."

" I don't know. Kokoro, what do you think?"

" Hmph! Do as you please. I simply just don't care. I'm going on my own leisure "

Kokoro was still angry with Hen. She jumped up and landed on the nearest branch. Hen was confused, rubbed his head, but he just shrugged as he clinged onto Tsuki's back. As he did, Tsuki jumped on the branch furthest from their tree.

Tsuki with Hen on her back and Kokoro continued jumping from branch to branch. Kokoro was following Tsuki as she was following the footprints. Kokoro couldn't stand to look at Hen. The sight of him clinged to Tsuki was revolting. However, while Kokoro ignored Hen, Hen couldn't stop looking at her.

" _Why is she so mad at me? What did I do wrong? This is worse than her with the loincloth. What am I going to do to fix this?" _

Tsuki finally stopped jumping. She fell with Hen still on her back on the ground and Kokoro fell with her. Hen, Tsuki, and Kokoro were at a monastery. In the monastery there were monks. Old, fat, bald monks with shaven heads wearing red robes with gold colour rope.

"What's this doing here?" Kokoro asked. "And what would Shizen's kidnappers be doing here?"

" I don't know," Hen said. " This whole kidnap just doesn't make any sense. But hey, maybe someone here might give us some clues."

" I'll do the interrogations," Tsuki said. She walked to the nearest shaven man she could find and got his attention by tapping his fingers. " Excuse me, sir, but may I ask you some questions?" The man said nothing to her. " See, we're looking for someone—Shizen—he was kidnapped and we believe his kidnappers were spotted somewhere around here. Would you happen to know anything about this?"

The man didn't speak to Tsuki. He just stared into Tsuki's eyes. As he did, he moved his hands around trying to get her unbidden attention. However, Kokoro, who had the temper of a wild animal, she ran up to the man and punched him in his face.

" Kokoro!" Hen shouted at the sight of Kokoro brutalizing the man. " What are you doing?"

"Where's Shizen?" Kokoro shouted at the man. "Where is he? The sooner we find him the sooner I can get back to my normal life. The one where SHE isn't in it!"

" Are you talking about me?" Tsuki asked. " You don't really like me, do you?"

Kokoro ignored Tsuki and just went back to kicking the man. She relentlessly kicked him to the point where he started to bleed from his head, then she was stopped by Hen who grabbed her arm and tugged on it.

" Kokoro, stop! This isn't like you. Whatever you're feeling it doesn't give you the right to hurt anyone. Especially someone as docile as this man.

" Hmph! What does it matter to you? You'd rather talk to Tsuki then you would ever talk to me."

" Are you angry with me, Kokoro?"

" Angry? I'm not angry. Why would I be angry? I'M THE LEAST ANGRY PERSON I KNOW!"

" What is going on out here?" Another man said. Hen, Kokoro, and Tsuki all looked up and saw a lengthy old man with the same clothes as everyone else walk in. He had a gold medallion around his neck. " What are you doing? We do not allow violence in this temple."

" Ah!" Hen screamed. " We're terribly sorry, sir. See, your friend here wouldn't speak to us when we asked him a question, so Kokoro started—"

" Oh, you do not understand. The person who you're referring to is Sabo. Ever since he was nine, he took an oath of silence. He hasn't said a word in thirteen years. And he's—"

" Ow, my head," Sabo said much to the older man's surprise. Sabo rubbed his head and scratched his scalp. " She hit me so hard. I think my ears are bleeding."

" Sabo, you have broken your oath. You must return to the recreation chambers to sign your oath again."

" Forget that. I feel so much better talking. I think I'll go for some soba."

Sabo got up and walked away from Hen, Kokoro, Tsuki, and the old man. The man was in wonder. He turned his head to Tsuki and looked at her as if saying " What have you done" directly to her face. Tsuki gave him the " Sorry" face and then just stared at him.

" Sorry for bothering you like this, but we have some questions for you about a kidnapping. Do you mind if we go inside."


	16. Chapter 16

(**A/N: Here's the sixteen chapter. I've run out of things to say. Just try to bear with me and please review. My chapters will only suck if I don't have much reviews.) **

**OOO**

Hen, Kokoro, and Tsuki were all handed oolong tea by the wise old man with the bald head. Hen drank the tea as if nothing bad had happened, Tsuki drank the tea as if nothing bad had happened, but Kokoro continued to stare at Tsuki while she chugged her tea down. She still disliked Tsuki for being cutesy with Hen.

Hen was the first to finish his tea, looked at the old man, said, " So sorry we intruded you and your monastery, but we were wondering if you could help us find our friend Shizen."

" I'm so sorry, but I don't know who this Shizen is. But I may be able to help you. One of your fellow members—Bakka—he said he saw a boy green haired boy being dragged away by a man holding a woman."

" Green haired boy? That's Shizen. Did he happen to see where those two went?"

" I don't know. You'll have to ask Bakka yourself. But be warned. Bakka has been in a little of a grouchy mood."

OOO

Following the wife man's direction Hen, Tsuki, and Kokoro all travelled through the monastery looking for him. Finally they reached his room. It was a black door that was decorative with different kinds of flowers.

" Should we knock?" Hen asked Tsuki. " Or should we just barge the door down?"

" Let's knock. It would be much more meaningful—"

" Forget it! I'm breaking down the door!" The kanji symbol火 appeared over her head as she clapped her hands together. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

A massive orb of roaring flames was released from Kokoro's body. A giant fireball headed towards the door and blew it up. Kokoro quickly dashed through the door. Hen and Tsuki both blinked in unison as they heard Kokoro grumbling in the room.

" Tsuki."

" Yes."

" Do you know why Kokoro is so angry?"

" No. I'm not good with understanding human emotions. Either that or I just don't care. I just don't understand emotions, and thinking too hard about them gives me migraines."

" Alright, Bakka, get out HERE!" Kokoro shouted inside the room. " I want to see YOU face to face!"

"Bakka doesn't seem to be here," Hen said while he listened to Kokoro's yelling voice. "Maybe this Bakka guy decided to leave the monastery. Or maybe he's meeting someone. "

" Or maybe he was downstairs getting a bite to eat and came back to see a bunch of neanderthal's breaking down his door," a man said behind them.

Hen and Tsuki both flinched at the sound of the voice behind them. They turned around and saw an angry bald man glaring at them. His clothes mirrored what was commonly seen worn by ancient civilizations such as Mayans or Egyptians, although his thick boots resembled Inuit garb; his chest was bare, only it was covered by a series of dark belts crossing it diagonally, and around his neck he donned a short mantle, covered in horizontal blue and white stripes and sporting edges decorated by numerous short, yellow strings hanging from it. Around his waist there was a long loincloth, held by a simple belt and sporting motif composed of several arcs, with a single spot in each of their concave part.

"I'm sorry, but are you Bakka?" Hen asked.

"Who wants to know?" The man replied.

"Sorry about your door, but we heard that you saw our friend being dragged away and we were hoping if you know where he was carried off too."

" Hmmm. Was he the one with the green hair?"

"Yes, that is our friend. Could you tell us where he went off too?"

"Sure, I guess I could tell you, but I don't want too."

" What?"

" I'm sorry, but I just don't want to get involved with petty matters such as yours. I just feel like you're not worth my time."

" Please, you have to help us. Shizen's not just a person. He's my best friend. Please help us."

" No matter what you say nothing will change my mind. Unless—"

" Unless what, Bakka?"

" Unless you can past a test of mine. I have to know if you're at least an adequate ninja."

OOO

Bakka brought Hen to a dojo. The roof was ripped open and the sun shinned bright over them, and large wooden rings that looked like tree stumps were layered around them. Tsuki and Kokoro both waited in the door as they watched Hen and Bakka in the sidelines.

Hen was sidetracked from the whole dojo and fighting. He was too apprehensive about what torture Shizen was going through. But while he was thinking, Bakka was snapping his fingers.

" Hey, little girl, wake up!"

" Huh. Oh, sorry, I was spaced out. And I'm a boy by the way. So, what do you want to play?"

" Not play. We're sparring. The rules are simple." Bakka took out a small white feather and raised it in his hands. " The rules are you must always stay on the tree stumps. Now there are two ways to win this game. You can either knock one of us off or snatch the feather from the others hand."

Bakka threw his feather at Hen and he caught it with his right hand. Hen squeezed the feather in his hand while he stared into Bakka's eyes.

" Be careful, Hen," Tsuki said on the sidelines. " From what I can tell, these people are masters of martial arts. That means he'll be good at Taijutsu."

" Thank you, Tsuki. Any advice you can give me, Kokoro?"

" Hmph! Why don't you ask Tsuki? She's probably a lot smarter than me."

" _She's still mad at me. What did I do wrong?" _

" Ready?"Bakka asked.

Hen flinched, shaked his head, said, " Ah, yeah, I'm ready." Hen jumped backwards in the air, disappeared, reappeared and landed on one of the tree stumps. " Let's tangle, Bakka."

" Well, aren't you a sprightly little warrior. Now…" Bakka jumped back and landed on a wood stump. Then he slammed his fists into the stump. "Wood Release: Advent of a World of Flowering Trees!"

In an instant, the stumps turned into trees. They grew high into the air, grew out of the dojo, and carried Bakka and Hen along with them. Tsuki were both surprised by the giant growing trees, but Kokoro was more worried than surprised.

" Hen!"

" I don't believe it," Tsuki said while she looked at the trees. " I had no idea he could use Wood Release ninjutsu of that aptitude. I hope Hen learned to function without air."

" Huh? Why would you say that?"

" The ninjutsu we used creates a dense forest of flowering trees. The pollen produced by these flowers is then released into the atmosphere and when inhaled, renders any afflicted target unconscious."

" Oh no! Those things are so up. If Hen loses consciousness, he could fall off and die."

" That's not entirely true. With enough willpower, it is possible to regain consciousness. However, in order to counter the technique fully, either the trees themselves must be destroyed completely or he must continue to remain elevated above the dispersed pollen."

" Oh, the hostility of him. When he gets down here, I'll rip his eyes out!"

" Umm, are you talking about Hen or Bakka?"

" I don't know. Both. Maybe neither. I'm just so upset about everything right now."

OOO

Hen could feel a cool breeze against his brown hair. Hen was feeling drowsy breathing in the air in the sky and nearly passed out, but managed to keep himself awake by pinching his own hands.

" Ow!" Hen exclaimed after he pinched himself. " Ow, that hurts!"

" Oh, aren't you the sprightly little man. This is going to be fun."

Hen looked up and saw Bakka standing on one of the trees. He was smiling at Hen, had his hands crossed, and chuckled while he looked at him. And then, he pulled out two kunai knives.

" Let the game begin."


	17. Chapter 17

(**A/N: Here's the Seventeenth chapter. I've finally came up with some interesting things. And if DepressedPerfectionist is looking at this, please answer me. Thank you. Please review :) **)

**OOO**

Kokoro and Tsuki tried seeing Hen in his fight against Bakka on the bottom, but couldn't as the trees they were fighting on were up too high up. While thinking about Hen and worrying about him, Kokoro held her hands over her heart.

" _Hen...please be alright."_

" Your friend Hen sure is something," Tsuki said as she looked up. " He sure is diligent to helping others. A little naïve though, he does seem like a nice guy. And he has a goal. A boy who has a goal?"

Tsuki simpered while she watched the sky. Kokoro watched her smile coyly and a cruciform ticked out of her head. " What are you smiling about?"

" Oh, it's nothing. I just think he's kinda hot."

" _I'm going to kill her." _

OOO

Hen decided to fight Bakka without the use of his water ninjutsu. He jumped from tree to tree, carrying the sharp katana Kino gave him, and slashed it at Bakka as he blocked it with his two kunai's. Hen continued hitting Bakka with his katana as sparks flew out.

" I must admit, even though you are small and look like a midget, you're stronger than you look," Bakka said coyly while he blocked Hen's strikes with his kunai's. " It's a shame I'm going to have to hurt you."

" The feelings mutual!" Hen shouted while he striked his katana at Bakka's kunai.

Hen was just as quick with his head as he was with his feet. He raised his feet up and did a backflip away from Bakka just before he slashed at him with his kunai. Hen's feet landed on the tree and he pushed himself towards Bakka, and went into a frenzy slashing his katana at him.

" Like I said, you're strong," said Bakka as he blocked Hen's strikes by using his kunai's. " But it doesn't matter how strong you are if you don't have leverage. Like me. My leverage is both my hands have a weapon and thus follow a symmetry. But you...you have your own kind of leverage I'm yearning to know."

" Why are you talking to me like this?" Hen shouted as he continued slashing his katana at Bakka. " Nothing you say makes any sense at all!"

" I guess that's the predicament of joining a monastery with monks. Everything they say just has to be poetic. I'm sure you're finding all my talk to be tedious, but don't worry. It's a long fall down, and I'll have much to talk to you then."

To Hen's surprise, Bakka dropped his right kunai and grabbed Hen's blade. Blood oozed from the monks palm as he started to hemorrhage and he raised his left hand with a kunai over Hen's head. Hen daunted at the sight of his kunai, tried to kick Bakka's kunai out of his hand, but was kicked by Bakka before he could, fell back, and landed on a giant stem of a leaf.

" See, you're being too predicable. I know what you're going to do before you can because you're just so plain. What fun would being a ninja be if you could see everything that happens, my rookie genin. And you're going to attack..."

Hen bounced off the tree stem and jumped towards Bakka. Hen slashed to the left, but was blocked by Bakka's kunai. His katana slid off and he striked right, but he stopped it with his kunai. Hen thrusted his sword into the center as Bakka had his kunai there, so he thrusted down, but Bakka stopped him. Hen made one last quick slash right and left, and Bakka stopped all of them.

" Left, right, center, down, right, left. Those were the moves you used on me."

" Stop copying my moves, you weirdo. _That's what I'd like to say, but the way he moves...it's like he knew what I was going to do before I did it." _

_" _I'm simply doing what comes to me by instincts." Bakka did a backflip and landed on his kunai that sticked into his tree. Converting his chakra into his feet, Bakka was able to stand on the tree, and he pulled the kunai out. "And you're one to talk. Aren't you trying to kill me with that little blade of yours."

" No. I'm using the back blade."

" You call that the back blade? Tsk. Teenagers. Here's how I see your ultimatum. Even though you're short, you do have lots of stamina that help with your taijutsu. However, you're focusing your energy only on one part of your body. Try spreading your energy to every part of your body. Remember, you're only as strong as your weapons."

" I'll keep a memo on it. Now just tell me where this man ran off too with Shizen. I don't really want to hurt you."

" Now, now, my young genin. What fun would life be if it was predictable? If you want something in life you have to earn it. And so far you haven't earned my unbinding attention. Ergo, we will continue to fight until you've got my attention or have my feather. Until then, we will continue to spar."

" Fine." Hen smiled and squeezed his hands on the hilt of his katana. " If that's the way it is, then I'll just take that feather right from your hands."

" Well, good luck with that."

Hen and Bakka's battle was far from being foreclosed. Hen and Bakka both dashed from their tree stems and headed towards each other. Hen raised his katana over his head and Bakka crossed his kunai's. Hen made a singular circle around his body preparing to strike, and slashed his katana at Bakka with unbelievably lightning speed. However, too Bakka his moves were just too predictable.

" _I knew it."_ Bakka thought as he blocked Hen's slashes with his kunai's. " _There's just nothing that can surprise me. Back in my previous life I was a crook. I stole, I raided, and I killed. To me nothing mattered to me but my thirst for blood and action. I was also nearly executed for being caught by my crimes. Thanks to the monastery, I'm a changed man. But the only thing I regret is not finding someone strong enough to be my rival. I thought this boy could test my. I guess I was wrong." _

Bakka got tired of this charade and jinxed Hen by hitting him with his elbow. Hen got dizzy after he was hit, and Bakka roundhouse kicked Hen on the left side of his head. Hen plummeted towards the ground with his katana falling with him. Even though he was falling, he held his white feather in his hands.

" _I can't lose. " _Hen thought while he was falling towards the ground. " _I just can't. I have to find Shizen. There are just so many things I want to say too him. So many things I want to make up with him. I-I..."_

" **_Liar,_**_" _Hen's subconscious spoke to him. " **_If you're really thinking of others instead of yourself, then stop being an idiot and help your friend. Remember, your problem is you're too stressed about everything. _**_" _

_" I-I don't understand. Who are you? And why are you saying this to me?" _

_" **Fight with your hands, legs, and every other part of your body. Use them wisely and you can accomplish anything. Think, boy. Think. Think. Think!" **_

" _I think..." _

In the air, Hen pushed his body to a tree, and jumped forward as he caught his katana by the hilt. Focusing his water ninjutsu on his feet, Hen rocketed towards the top of the tree where Bakka was standing on a tree stem. Bakka smirked and laughed under his breath.

" I had no idea you could use water release ninjutsu. Most could manipulate pre-existing water, but you using water from your own chakra must be strenuous on you. Your members of the Kaguya Clan must be proud of you."

" I'm not a member of the Kaguya Clan, you bastard!" Hen shouted. He did back flip towards the next tree and pushed himself towards Bakka. " My name is He. Hen Hyuga. I'm a member of the Hyūga clan!" Hen raised his katana over his head and prepared to slash it at Bakka. " Ahhhhhhhhh!"

" Ha. Going to use the same moves against me?" Bakka crossed his kunai together. " Won't you ever lea-"

Hen was able to surprise Bakka. Before he slashed his katana down on him, Hen did a roundhouse kick towards Bakka's head. Bakka was surprised, small trickles of blood came out his nose, but he shaked it off and slashed both his kunai's at Hen. However, Hen, with only one hand on the katana's hilt, slashed the kunai and blocked them from hitting him. Hen then did a cartwheel on the blade, another cartwheel while on the tip and holding a hand on the hilt, and a finally a third that kicked Bakka in his face.

" _Amazing," _Bakka thought after he was kicked. " _A minute ago he was so plain. How can someone surprise me this much?"_

_" _I think it's about time we both went back down!"

Hen pushed on Bakka's neck with his left hand and stabbed his katana into the tree bark with his other hand. Both Hen and Bakka fell down with Hen's katana ripping through the wood. As they were falling, Bakka, who was angry from his blows to the head, tried punching Hen in his face. However, Hen slide up above Bakka and let him punch him in his stomach.

" I'm-_ack-_harder to-_ack_-hurt then most people," Hen coughed while he was being punched in the chest. " And do you know why?"

" Why?"

" Because I'm a midget. Just like you said. And because I'm small, you can't see me."

Hen and Bakka kept falling until Hen saw the solid ground under his feet. Willing himself, Hen took the katana out of the tree, made hand signals, and disappeared before Bakka's eyes. Bakka kept falling until he fell on his back and into the ground. Hen then returned on the ground and sheathed his katana.

" And I believe this means I win," Hen said as he smiled. " So tell me where Shizen is-"

" Hen!" Kokoro yelled flamboyantly as she ran out from out of nowhere and hugged him. As she did, she pulled on his right arm that was wounded. " Your okay!"

" Kokoro, you're hurting my arm."

" I was so worried when I couldn't see you. I thought something bad had happened to you."

" Kokoro, my arm feels like it's going to be ripped off."

" I'm not letting go of you again. I want to hold you for as long as I can.

" K-Kokorooooooo...my aaarrrrrmmmm!"

" _That kid," _Bakka thought as he lay face up on the ground. " _Looks like he got me to fall off first. If only I could get his feather, then I would've been the winner." _Just then two small white feathers flew down from the sky and landed on Bakka's feet. Bakka was tongue-tied at his realization. " _I can't believe it. He must've took my feather out while I was punching him. And he even threw his own feather away so he couldn't win by that silly rule. Just who is this kid?" _

Kokoro now had Hen up too her chest and was squeezing the life out of him. Tsuki walked up behind Kokoro and patted her on her right shoulder.

" Excuse me, miss Kokoro, but I do believe that Hen can't breath while you're squishing him with your chest."

" What?" Kokoro pulled Hen's face away and saw his nose bleeding with blood and his eyes all white. At that sight Kokoro gave a giant shriek. " NO! NO, Hen, you can't die on ME!" Kokoro brought both her hands behind Hen's head and she squeezed him even tighter. " Don't die! Don't die! Don't die!"

" Ahem," Bakka coughed that brought Kokoro, Tsuki's, and Hen's attention to him. Bakka was now standing and smiled at Hen. " I was wrong about you, my dear boy. You really surprised me back there. Even in a serious fight, you really didn't want to win against me, did you?"

" Well...ya," Hen replied while his attention was on Bakka and his noise was bleeding. " I didn't really care about your game. All I wanted was to help my friend in need. So, do you or do you not know where he is?"

" Aye, I know where he is. The person who took him was able to use Wood Release. It's a type of ninjutsu founded in the Senju Clan. They're mostly found in the Land of Earth under the rein of Earth Daimyō. The border of the east a rocky mountain range, blocking communication with other countries. But some people have moved here; my guess is they were looking for someone. And there camp is in-"

" Wood Release: Vines of the Slavic!"

Out of nowhere came large vines. The vines wrapped around Bakka's arms and legs and lifted him off the ground. Behind Bakka were Shizen's brother Sumire and his wife with his wife's arms wrapped around Sumire's chest. Sumire stared straight into Hen's eyes and studied him.

" So you're the one," Sumire said. Something in his voice felt like spiders were crawling all over Hen's back. " And unless you do exactly as I say, it's your friend Shizen that will pay by making it rain with his blood."


	18. Chapter 18

There was a man and a woman. Both looked much older and had worn some high class clothes. They both looked really man wore a long black kimono , he had dark black hair. While the woman wore a yukata with a red obi who had blue eyes and jet black hair. She gave a very wierd sort of smile that made them sick.  
Kokoro and Hen looked at each other and back at them. The silence was finally cut short until the man spoke.

" Are you Hen?" he asked in a serious tone.

Hen gulped and replied " Yes. But who are you and what do you want?"

"We just want something that you have in return for you friend Shizen? I am his brother and this is my wife." replied the man.

" You have Shizen? What have you done with him" asked Kokoro angrily

" Now now little girl is that any way to talk to your friends elder brother? And don't worry we haven't done anything to him yet" he retorted. The woman beside him giggled. Kokoro sneered at that comment.

" How could you do this ?" asked Hen

" Why wouldn't we do it? If we want something we always get it" replied the woman.

Kokoro couldn't take all of this anymore. She quickly made signs of a fire Jutsu.  
" I've had enough of this **. Fire style: Fire ball Jutsu" shouted Kokoro while running towards them. She finally left out a huge fireball aiming at the them.

To counter the fury Shizen's brother releases a strong water technique. " Water style: Water Wave Jutsu".

When water and fire clash there is a huge force which causes collateral damage. Steam is formed due to the intense heat and cool. As the steam rises Hen and Kokoro were already next to each other. As they noticed nothing had happened to Shizen's brother.

Hen finally charges towards Shizen's brother as he drew his katana. He began attacking Shizen's brother. But it turned out that he was quite a good dodger. He even had a chance to play defense in all those strikes. Hen was getting irritated. This guy was just so good , he was predicting his moves and playing defense as well. Hen finally fell backwards for a pause. He was breathing heavily while the dark haired man was standing on the other end without breaking a sweat.

Kokoro started laughing her heart out seeing Hen make a fool of himself and said " Is that the best you could come up with ?"

Hen frowned and said " Well I'm not the one who tells every man I see to grope me"

" At least I am a girl and I sound like one" Kokoro bickered back.

Finally Hen decides to add chakra to his sword to make his strikes more efficient. He concentrates on his sword until the the streched metal gathered a blue glow. He charged once again towards Shizen's brother but this time his sword is blocked by a giant mass of wood.

Hen was surprised with the jutsu. How could someone have two different chakra natures? Never had he seen someone with two different chakra natures. A sweat trickled down on the side of his face. His face was embedded with an serious expression of shock and fear.

" How did you ... How do you have two different chakra natures?" he stuttered.

Shizen's brother smirked and replied " Generations of my clan have all married woman of the clans whose secret jutsu are water. I possess wood style because my father, just like my brother Shizen, is a wood user. My mother and wife are both water users. Its our in our blood. And that's what we want from you. We want your water style. We know that you hold sincere feelings of affections towards my brother and hence we offer you a chance to be the second matriarch of the clan and Shizen's wife. You are one lucky little girl".

This left Hen speechless. It took him some time to process this information. They thought he was a girl who was madly in love with Shizen. And since he had water style that meant that he was eligible to be Shizens hit Hen like a wall of bricks. He just stood unable to accept what he had just heard until Kokoro looked even more angry and sped towards the couple.

" I am not a girl" screamed Hen.

" I know your lying" retorted Shizen's brother. " You are pretty, not as pretty as my wife of course, but still are pretty and fair-skinned like a girl. You must be a girl."

" Fire style: Fire dragon Jutsu" Kokoro screams as Tsuchi comes in her way and keeps dodging all the fire balls and fire dragons with water attacks. Suddenly Shizen's brothers wife makes a water hammer and lashes towards Kokoro. The water hammer misses Kokoro and hits the earth creating a small crater.

Kokoro was surprised by how Shizen's wife had such amazing control over water chakra's form. Once again Shizen's wife came towards her and this time it would hit and kokoro couldn't dodge it in anyway. Until Tsuki kicked the wife's hand with the water hammer to avoid the attack.

" Took you long enough" Kokoro told Tsuki. Tsuki looked and smirked. While Tsuki glanced and saw that Hen and Shizens brother were fighting and Hen wasn't holding up too well. She suddenly heard Kokoro's voice which said 'look out '. She once again dodged the hammer.

She need to finish this and fast. Tsuki took a position and took a deep breath. She made a series of hand signs and put out her right hand forward with her left hand clasping her right hands plane a little ahead of joint.

A Surge of lightning filled her palm and she raced towards the wife but as lightning and a water barrier clashed she knew she had won. Since water is a good conductor of lightning. The wife was thrown back towards the edge.

Seeing that Shizen's brother sped towards his wife. Picked her up and gave her a gentle hug. Seeing as the lightning did hit her hard. They decided to withdraw.  
" If you want Shizen back your going to have to beat me, little girl. My name is Sumire. I am of the Senju Clan and our camp is just north of here. Come at me anytime you want. I'll be waiting."

With that he created a smoke screen with the help of petals and vanished. Leaving Tsuki with questions , Hen startled and Kokoro in the middle of it.

" We don't have much time," Kokoro said pointing out the obvious. " The exams are tomorrow. And did you see how powerful he was? We'll never be able to beat him in one day."

" We don't really have much of a choice," Hen said. " There's only one thing I can do. I have to learn Byakugan."


	19. Chapter 19

**I hope this chapter doesn't seem too bad to you. I've been busy lately and the last chapter came from DepressedPerfectionist. So please just bare with me what is going to happen in this chapter. **

Hinata Hyūga was sitting by the window of her house staring through the glass and sighing to herself. It had been four days since her son left her and she was lonely. There was a void inside her heart that could not be filled as the only thing that could fill it was her son's face.

" _Hen..." _Hinata's hands pressed against her heart. " _Hen..." _

**Flashback:**

_Hinata practiced her Gentle Fists; Jūken. Her moves were the same as the Gentle Fist art; Jūkenpō. Her technique is a form of hand-to-hand combat used solely by members of the Hyūga clan. One touch to the nerves inflicts internal damage through attacking the body's Chakra Pathway System, subsequently injuring organs that are closely intertwined._

_" One...Two...Three..." Hinata breathed trying to calm herself steady and practice her technique. _

_In order for Gentle Fists to work she needed to inject a certain amount of her own chakra into the opponent's chakra pathway system, causing damage to surrounding organs due to their proximity of their chakra system even with the slightest touch, hence " gentle" fist. Hinata's hands burned with the illusory fires of blue, and she used Byakugan. _

_" One...Two...Three..."_

_Hinata hit a large tree with her fists. The moment her fingers touched the tree it shattered on contact. There was a toll however for this. When Hinata used Gentle Fist's there was a moment where she lost herself. Hinata heard footsteps behind her. To her it was an assassin coming to get her. Ever since she first had Hen, there have been many of them._

_Hinata turned around and hit her perpetrator in his ribs. Her punch inflicted severe internal trauma with minimal external force. Whoever she hit would most likely die. But it was to her horror...the person she hit was her own son Hen._

_" M-Mommy...?" Blood dripped from Hen's mouth from the trauma of his organs feeling they were about to burst. " Why...?"_

_The moment Hen fell on the ground his eyes wouldn't stop staring into his mother's plain, ghostly white eyes. Hen lost conscious the moment he hit the floor. His mother ran him, stared at his unconscious face, and started to cry through her white eyes. _

_" My son." _

_Hinata practiced in the art of medical ninjutsu. Her best healing power was Mystical Palm Technique. This medical ninjutsu allows the user to speed up the body's natural healing process by sending chakra from their hands into a wound or afflicted body part. It was vital to match the amount of chakra used to the severity of the affliction or injury. This requires a great amount of chakra control. Because Hen's body was so small and frail Hinata didn't think her technique would be able to work on him, and that he would die by her own hands. _

_" Hen! Please don't leave me, Hen! Your my son! Your the only thing I have left! I love you so much I would do anything to protect you! Please don't leave me!" _

_Hinata weeped for her son with every second she had her technique over his heart. But it was no use. Hen's body was just to frail and she couldn't match his chakra level. She could still feel him dying through her hands. The one thing that could save him was the beast. The beast nestling inside Hen's heart. With his heart so close to dying...Hen's eyes and there she saw it's natural color...red, like the color of blood."_

**Flashback End**

Hinata twirled her finger's in her hair thinking about Hen. The reason she never wanted him to be a ninja like her was because using too much chakra could release the beast. But she knew she couldn't stop Hen from choosing his own path, even if it meant it would hurt him.

" _The people in my village said Hen was cursed. They all deemed him to be a monster. I may have carried him in my womb till the day he was born, but he's not really my son. He's only half me. A water demon attacked my clan years ago. In order to trap it they had to seal it inside me. They say one day the demon will be freed and will reek havoc on everything I hold deer. I never told Hen about this. It's not something I ever want him to know. I don't care how he came into this world; he's my son and I love him. __If anything bad ever happened to him I would never forgive myself. "_

OOO

Hen was trying with everything he had to unlock Byakugan. His mother said that every member of the Hyūga clan had it. The only problem was, since Hen's blood was only half Hyūga, he had a problem unlocking it. Hen was in agonizing pain searching through his mind.

" Hen!" Kokoro said as she saw Hen in pain. " Stop this! Stop whatever it is you're doing! Whatever it is isn't worth your life!"

" No!" Hen shouted. " Don't come any closer! This is just something I have to do!"

" No it's no! You have to stop this right now."

" Your friend is right," Tsuchi said. " All this work is strenuous on your life force. If you keep pushing yourself too hard soon you'll fall."

" I don't care! I want to be strong! My mother told me people used to call her a failure, but she became strong! I want to be strong like her. Even if it means I'm going to die...I will become STRONG!"

Hen could feel a strange power burning deep inside of him. It was the power of Byakugan. Hen's eyes burned red from the energy in his chakra, his hands burned with blue flames, and he screamed in the highest voice of agony. The entire time, Kokoro was crying watching him.

" Hen!"

Hen fell from the pain burning in his eyes. Kokoro say this pain and ran straight up to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. It was the only thing she could think of. Hen's painful shouts were still coming out. They soon passed and his low breathing came out.

" Hen, are you alright?" Kokoro pulled Hen back and looked at his eyes. His eyes were still closed from the agony he was feeling. " Quick, let me look at your eyes."

Hen tried to pull his head back so Kokoro wouldn't see him so weak, so feeble. His heart that felt like it was going to die kept beating with her hands touching him. Finally, she pulled his eyelids up and looked at his eyes. His eyes...they were once blue the same color as the sky, they turned...white, the color of a ghost.


	20. Chapter 20

**Like all my chapters sorry if I'm a day late and a dollar short. And I'm sorry if this chapter is a little short. I have a swollen foot from spraining my left foot and every time I type I wiggle my foot—it feels like my bones are going to shatter. I will however try to keep writing. Oh, and please review : ) **

Kokoro couldn't believe what she was seeing. Hen's eyes were ghostly white. White: the color of fog. Kokoro couldn't tell what Hen was feeling. His emotions were clouded by his white eyes. But from how hoarse his voice was, Kokoro felt like he was suffering.

" Kokoro..."

" What is it, Hen? Are you blind? Can you see?"

" I-It's not that, Kokoro. I can see just fine. I can still see the forest. I can still see what people look like. And most of all..." Hen stroked the bangs of Kokoro's hair away so that he could look into her eyes with his ghostly white eyes. " I can see your face. Tell me, Kokoro, are those tears really for me?"

" What? What tears? There's no tears in my eyes." Kokoro turned her attention away from Hen as not to show him any signs that she was weak. " I just have something in my eyes. I know you were alright the entire time."

" I bet you did, Kokoro." Hen smiled. " I bet you did."

" Sorry to intrude you two, but we still have urgent matters to attend to," Tsuchi said putting the mission first. " But we still have urgent matters to attend to. Hen, are you able enough to move?"

" Ah..." Hen with the help of Kokoro stood up again. Hen then jumped in the air. He jumped above Kokoro and Tsuchi's heads and then he landed on a tree branch, smiled. " Yeah, I think I'm adequate enough."

" Great. These moves your mother taught you, the one's from the Hyūga Clan, you better learn whatever you need fast. We still have to find your friend Shizen."

OOO

Shizen was in a prison cell. The cell was quaint and smelled of tree sap. The prison itself was a small cage made out of bark. Shizen grabbed the bars thinking about the fond memory's he had with Hen and Kokoro: Hen and him beating the doctor, Hen going to a hot spring with him where the girl thought they were a married couple, him mistaking rooms and leaving Hen in the girls' hot spring, Hen fighting grunts to save him, and their last meal together. All were warm memory's."

" I'm sorry it has to be this way, dear brother," Shizen's brother Sumire said. He was standing just in front of Shizen's holding cell. " I understand you thought running away would change your fate. But it doesn't work like that. Your fate has been chosen since you were born a failure."

" I know I'm a failure. I thought being in Team 7 would change my fate. At least there people who pretended to care about me would protect me."

" I know. Unlike you dear brother I'm not illiterate. I know all about these exams. I have hope though. Very soon a young girl you've very much been acquainted with will come for you."

" _Is he talking about Kokoro? Or is he talking about..."_

" It is the girl who focuses on water ninjutsu. If you marry her, the Ki will be happy."

" No way! Your talking about Hen, aren't you?"

" The shorty, yes."

" I'm not going to marry Hen! I like girls!"

" I thought your friend was a girl. And I know you like girls. The main reason you wanted to learn our talents was so you could impress girls with it. Girls, girls, girls. All you ever think about is girls— groping them, caressing their butts, smelling their hair, and looking at their under garments."

Shizen sweatdropped. " You don't have to make me sound like a complete and total pervert. I do have my limits."

" Since when? When I first got married you tried flirting with my wife. You told her if she will care your child you could elope into happiness. But my wife, completely loyal to me, punched you in the face. She still carries that incisor she punched out of your filling."

" Eh, how do you know about that?"

" She told me. We tell each other everything."

" That's enough, Sumire," Shizen's father said behind his eldest son's back. " Release the boy. I'd like to have a few words with him. "

" Yes, father. Unlike Shizen I'll do anything you tell me because I'm the good son." Sumire pulled open the cage door. He then picked up a stick and started poking him with it. " Come on, Shizen, get moving."

Shizen snarled at his brother, then stuck his tongue out blowing a raspberry at him. Shizen walked next to his father. His father started moving forward with Shizen walking beside him. There was much his father wanted to tell him.

" I just want you to know I never wanted any of this to happen. But in order to achieve victory sometimes sacrifices must be made. You understand that, don't you, Shizen?"

" Yes, father. Sometimes you have to sacrifice things no matter how much it hurts."

" Exactly. Mankind can't grow strong until they know what pain feels like. At least when you feel that pain, you'll know it is all for a better cause-"

" Let that boy go!" Shizen and his father flinched at the sound of a girl screaming behind them. They both turned around and saw Tsuchi glaring at them. She squeezed both her fists together preparing to fight. " Let him go or I will hurt you-"

" No, don't hurt him!" Shizen held both his hands out trying to protect his father. Tsuchi was confused with the boy she never met actions, but even moreso how he was crying. " He's my father! Please don't hurt him. He means you no harm."

Tsuchi let her guard down for a second. She walked up to Shizen hoping to help him. But what happened next was completely unexpected. The moment she came close to Shizen, his father jabbed a long wooden spike through his son's chest, and the spike went through Tsuchi's chest as well. Blood gushed from both their chests. As they were bleeding, Shizen's father was smiling.

" Sometimes in order to win a battle...sacrifices have to be made. Isn't that right, Shizen?"


	21. Chapter 21

**I bet some of you weren't expecting the chapter to end like that. I admit maybe I should've added more for that chapter, however, I couldn't wait for that part to happen. I hope however you enjoy this chapter. Please review : )**

Tsuchi was clotting really bad through her open wound. She was losing so much blood that everything looked hazy around her. The only thing she could see however was Shizen, his father, and Shizen's father spike stabbed straight through his son's chest.

" You monster!" Tsuchi shouted. " How could you do that to your own son after he tried protecting you?"

" Really? Do you really think that's the case? Maybe you should listen to what Shizen has to say. I'm sure he'll surprise you."

" I-I just wanted to help my father anyway I could." Shizen said weakly. As he spoke blood dripped out of his mouth. " I've never been worth anything to him. Now I can die knowing I did something useful."

Shizen's eyes closed after his father pulled out his wooden spike. Tsuchi couldn't stand people who hurt their own friends or family. And when she saw how Shizen's father kicked him aside her blood pressure became high.

" You monster..." Tsuchi couldn't breath right through her mouth. She fell on her knees, blood dripping on her hands, and panted trying to stay awake.

" Hmmm. I'm curious. Are you part of the Uchiha?" Tsuchi was too busy panting to answer him. Small flame's came out of her hands though while she raised them by her head. " I see. So you are a Uchiha. Last I heard there were only two like you left. How would you like to stay here and be part of our family."

" Drop-dead-now..."

" Oh, that's too bad. You've seen too much. I guess I'll have to offer you up as a sacrifice, to our beloved tree Ki-"

" Leave her alone!"

Falling from the sky came Hen. He fell down towards Shizen's father and kicked him under his jaw. Hen kicked Shizen's father in the face and then he grabbed Tsuchi. It was at first hard since he was so short, but he managed to grab her and run away from Shizen's father.

" Biggest mistake of your life." Shizen's father wiped blood off his upper-lip. " I'm going to-"

" Shut up!"

A fireball was thrown behind Shizen's father back and hit straight into his back. Shizen's father yelped in pain in which he turned around and saw the girl Kokoro. She had a fireball in her hand. Shizen's father laughed at the sight of her the fireball.

" I was wrong. So there are more of you then I thought. How would you like to like with me-"

" Pervy old man! Shut up!"

Kokoro raised her fireball up to her mouth and blew in it. Fire blew out of the fireball and went straight towards Shizen's father. Just before the fire reached him water poured down and dosed the flames. After the flames were all gone Shizen's brothers wife fell down.

" You are here to harm my father. You're here to harm my husband. That is something I cannot allow."

" Bring it on, wench! I fought Hen so many times; don't think I don't know how to fight your kind."

Kokoro disappeared in a puff of smoke. She reappeared in front of the water user and punched her in her face. Before Kokoro could pull back her opponent grabbed her arm and squeezed it. In her moment when she was distracted she pulled her fist back and punched her in her face. Kokoro reaced by wrapping her legs around her opponents neck, twisted her body left and fell with her to the ground.

" I'll be honest. You got more arm strength then Hen. He doesn't have any muscles."

The wife stood up while her hands pushed against Kokoro's legs. She fell back down slamming Kokoro against the ground. The entire time Shizen's father laughed at them. He then snapped his fingers.

" Sumire."

Sumire appeared behind his father. He bowed his head in the presence of him.

" Go find them. The shorty with our injured friend. I want you to bring them both back to me."

" Yes, father. It shall be dealt with."

Sumire disappeared behind his father. After watching more of Kokoro and his son's wife wailing on each other, he walked away from them. He was going to his tree the Great Ki.

Kokoro and her opponent got back on their feet. Kokoro held her hands out. When she did fireballs appeared in her hands. Kokoro stood on one foot, moving her fireballs around in different directions, and then she smirked at her opponent.

" I'm so hot. What are you doing to do about it?"

Her opponent's became covered in a whirlpool of water. She then raised her hand in the air and water sprayed out of it. The water created a done around Kokoro and her. When the water came over Kokoro the flames igniting from her hands diminished.

" W-What? Where are my flames? Where are they?"

" Heat can't work without cold. Nothing can last in cold, just like nothing can last in hot. All cold no heat."

" Okay, could you please say that in a way I can actually understand you."

" Your trapped."

" Okay, that makes way more sense-"

Kokoro was punched in her torso. A second punch to her femur. And a third punch to her nasal cavity. Finally a kick to the stomach. Kokoro was incapicated. Without her flames and without much run to run in she was as worthless as a genin without ninjutsu. Kokoro got so made at the girl in front of her she punched her in her face. But when she did her body exploded into small drops of water.

" No. That's water clone jutsu. Then where is she-"

Kokoro was kicked on the left side of her face. Before she fell her opponent grabbed her by her clothes, raised her up to her face where she saw into her cold, heartless eyes.

" Your trapped with...me."

OOO

Hen dropped Tsuchi off near a tree just standing firm away from Shizen's family. Tsuchi looked into Hen's girly face as she was still panting heavily through her mouth. Hen didn't know medical jutsu like his mother. He could however use his chakra to increase her blood circulation. Tsuchi started to stop panting and breath normally again.

" I'm here for you, Tsuchi. I'll be with you every step of the way. Just stay with me."

" Hen..."

" What is it, Tsuchi?"

" Could you please just leave me behind."

" What? No, I can't just do that, Tsuchi. Your injured. You need someone to take care of you-"

" Just please leave me, Hen. I don't want you seeing me so weak. I might not make it out of her alive."

" Don't talk like that. We're all going to get through this. You, me, Kokoro, Shizen, everyone of us is going to come out of this alive."

" Just tell my father I...I lo...lov...him-"

" Tell him yourself!" Hen grabbed Tsuchi's hands and pulled them to his heart. It was too Tsuchi's surprise how fast Hen's little heart was beating. " See this? I'm scared. I'm terrified in fact. I too don't think I stand a chance here, but that doesn't mean I'm going to give up."

" H-Hen..."

" See my eyes. If they weren't like this right now they'd look scared. Everyone gets scared. Everyone. But you just got to pull through. You have to stay with me!"

Hen gave all his chakra to Tsuchi. He was sweating, his palms were starting to get shaky , he could feel most of his energy being depleted, but as he glowed blue around his body the wound in Tsuchi's body sealed itself on it's own.

" Hen... this can't be possible. How are you doing this?"

" I-don't-know!"

Hen collasped from all the chakra he gave to Tsuchi. As he did the wound in her chest sealed up. Blood was all over the spot where she was stabbed. Tsuchi rubbed the spot where blood was, poked it seeing if there was any flesh, then she sighed in relief. Her body was intact. The next thing she did was lift the worn out Hen off the ground.

" Hen, that has got to be the dumbest thing I've ever seen anyone do. But thank you. I still don't know how you did that ninjutsu, but if it weren't for it I might not even be alive right now." Tsuchi kissed Hen's forehead. Hen shivered when her lips touched his sensitive skin. The sight of him twitching made Tsuchi smile. " Sleep easy. You deserve it-"

" Isn't that just touching." Sumire Shizen's brother appeared before Hen and Tsuchi. Tsuchi with Hen still in her hands growled at him. " I remember what it was like to have young love. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was in love with a girl who could use fire jutsu just like you. I gave my first kiss to her. But the sad truth was...she didn't belong in our clan. So I did the one humane thing. I stabbed her three times in her chest."


	22. Chapter 22

**Thanks for all the reviews. I would also like to thank Depressed Perfectionist. Sorry if the story is taking to long to update but it's hard thinking of new chapters. So please review : ) **

Kokoro didn't know what to do. She was trapped. She couldn't use her fire ninjutsu, she couldn't hit her opponent as she always disappeared into water, and she couldn't run as she was trapped inside a dome. Kokoro's wrists were cut, she was bleeding, but she kept fighting.

" I must-_ack_-win this-_ack_-fight."

Kokoro kicked at her opponent. Her opponent blocked her attacks by swinging her arms. After what was the eleventh kick she grabbed her legs, raised her above the ground and spinned her around in circles throwing her into the wall of water.

" _I don't know how long I can keep this up."_

OOO

Tsuchi was keeping Hen safe from Sumire. Since her fire and lighting jutsu wasn't going to work on him-he could dowse flames with his water jutsu and block the lightning with his wood jutsu-she resorted to settling the whole thing with taijutsu.

Tsuchi ran up to Sumire, jumped in the air and punched Sumire in the face. Sumire however grabbed her fist. She squeezed her fist as she cried in pain, then he jabbed her three times in the stomach. His fingers struck straight into her nerves sending a signal into her brain causing her to bleed from her mouth. When he released his grip on Tsuchi she grabbed her stomach with both arms and breathed in through her mouth.

" It's such a pity," said Sumire. He kicked Tsuchi in her face. When she fell he stomped on her stomach and squished her under his foot. " I expected you Uchiha to be much greater fighters. But all I see in you is a sad little girl about to have her head decapitated from her disembowelled body." Sumire took out a ninja blade knife from his clothes. He raised the blade above his head preparing to stab it right through Tsuchi's neck. " Just like my last love, this is how we say goodbye-"

A katana blade appeared right before Sumire stabbed his blade into Tsuchi's neck. Who did he see but Hen holding that blade. His face was masked by his pale white eyes, but he could see how angry he was just by the way his eyelashes flared at him.

" Stay away from her."

" Would you look at those eyes. Their from the Hyūga clan are they not. Yes, unlike my brother I've studied lots on geography and history. I also know just from physical calibers that a little boy like you stands no chance against someone big like me."

" Short am I? Well I'll show you just what this shorty can do!"

Hen weaved his katana at Sumire. Sumire dropped his ninja blade and did backflips away from Hen as he ran straight at him swinging his katana around. Finally Sumire grew a giant log under his feet, jumped in the air, spinned his body around, as he then pulled out another ninja blade and slashed it at Hen, but Hen blocked it with his katana.

" I'm completely surprised. I never thought you of whom are just a little boy could very well make a vast recovery. And thus because of that I do sincerely apologize."

" Apologize after this!"

Small red veins grew from Hen's eyes as small pupils appeared. Hen punched his fist into the clothes Sumire donned over his body. The moment his fists went right into his ribs Sumire coughed blood out of his mouth. Hen struck his katana into the ground, hands on his handle, and he kicked Sumire in his face. Sumire went flying back. Before crashing into a tree he summoned roots to wrap around his legs.

" The ability to drain chakra from your opponents body. You truly are from the Hyūga clan. It would be a pain to fight you in hand to hand combat. That's why I must let my little pet deal with you."

" Pet? What pet?"

" A pet I made with my blood seal. " Sumire took out a small blade from his clothes and stabbed it in his left arm. He bleeded through his left hand. " Perhaps you've heard of the Summoning Technique. It is a space–time ninjutsu that allows the summoner to transport animals or people across long distances instantly via blood. With just a little extra blood I should summon my beast right away. Come hither to me, Roa!"

Sumire smacked his right hand into the ground. A circle made out of black ink appeared under Sumire's hand. Hen could almost hear the sound of something growling inside the ink. Hen also noticed looking back that Tsuchi was gone. She was nowhere to be seen.

" _Don't tell me she sneaked away while I was fighting. How does she move so fast?" _

Something strange then happened. Out of the ink came white paws. And finally out of the ink came a wolf. A white wolf with a large black nose and small red eyes. Though Hen's eyes couldn't be seen by the paleness of his white eyes, but he was scared of the wolf. The wolf halt as Sumire stroked its fur.

" It doesn't have to end with Roa. All you have to do is marry my brother and everything will be fine."

" I told you, I'm a boy not a GIRL!"

" And I still don't believe you. But if that's still your answer than...Roa, attack!"

OOO

Tsuchi ran through the woods away from Hen over to Shizen. Something about her woman's intuition told her that Shizen was still alive. Sure enough when she reached Shizen he was still breathing.

" Ah! Please don't move! Everything is going to be fine!"

Tsuchi ran up to Shizen and kneeled to him. Using her healing ninjutsu she created a small blue of light that slowly started to heal Shizen's wounds. It would take some time for her ninjutsu to heal him, and he wasn't even sure he'd survive even with the ninjutsu, but she had to try. She was Sasuke's daughter after all.

" I'm going to take care of you. Everything is going to be fine."

OOO

Shizen's father was back up and sitting cross-legged by a tree. He carried a taito in his hands. Time was running out for him. If things didn't work out like he wanted his only option was Seppuku; suicide.

" Please Ki. Please give me the power to go on."


	23. Chapter 23

**I'm going to try to make my next few chapters short. This is because I want to see if I had more chapters more people would review. I'll add them together when it's done. Please review : ) **

The weather outside was humid. It was hard to think straight. Luckily it didn't bother Hen while he was fighting the giant wolf Roa. Hen ran to a tree using his Tree Climbing ninja technique to talk up it.

" You can run but you can't hide," Sumire said as Hen walked up the tree. " Me and my father live in this forest. We've both studied in the way of water ninjutsu. There's no where you can hide where we can't find you."

Sumire made hand signals as Hen stayed standing on a tree. Out of nowhere giant roots came out nearly wrapping around Hen. But just when the wood was about to wrap around Hen's body, he jumped off.

" _Oh no. The moment I touch the ground I'm going to be wolf food. What am I going to do?"_

Hen touched the ground. Just as he thought the wolf jumped on Hen trying to devour him. Hen jumped back just before the wolf could bite him with his serrated teeth. The wolf swiped its paws at Hen again and again trying to eat him whole.

" What's wrong with you? Why don't you just fight back. It couldn't be that you...you..."

" _That's right. I'm a giant animal lover. I just can't bring myself to hurt this poor defenceless wolf." _

Hen tripped trying to escape the wolfs paws. Because of his mistake he was slashed across the chest by the wolfs' paws. A large cut wound opened up in Hen's chest. Hen held his hands over his stomach trying to stop the bleeding, and then he collapsed on the floor.

_"_ If you don't take care of that soon it will leave a scar.I figured. If you can't even stop my wolf than you don't stand a chance against me. If you just give up I'll forget this rash error on your behalf and let you go free."

" No. I won't leave. I am bringing Shizen back to us."

" Oh. Why do you continue to fight me even though it's clear I'm the much better fighter? What's so great about Shizen anyways? He's a failure. A failure to his clan. What could you possibly gain from taking him?"

" He's my best friend."

" Friend? I say you should just get the curtail out of here. Shizen has no friends.

Never has and never will." Hen couldn't stay away any longer. His chakra was almost

completely drained. Hen's body became limp. Sumire noticed this, smirked. " I guess

all this friendship doesn't gain you anything. Except, you don't have to suffer when

Rao eats you-"

Sumire felt a strange aura surrounding Hen. That aura lengthened up to the trees.

Strange things were also happening to Hen. Claws stretched out of his fingernails, a

long green-blue tail popped out of his rear, when Hen stood up again his eyes were

glowing bright red. Strange black marks appeared over Hen's face.

" What's this? Where have I seen those marks before?" The beast walked towards Sumire.

Sumire's blood froze when Hen's tail smacked the ground. " No! Stay away from me!

Attack! Attack, Rao!"

The wolf sprinted towards Hen. It leaped in the air and slashed it's claws at Hen's

face. Hen however grabbed the wolf by his paws, raised him above the ground as if he

was a doll, and then he threw the wolf towards the trees. The wolf smacked against a

tree and howled in pain. Sumire was frozen seeing his wolf in pain and then Hen

appeared before him and smacked Sumire with his hands. The symbol of the seal he used

to summon the wolf appeared from his chest, and then vanished before his eyes.

" What? What have you done?"

" I broke the seal between you and your little friend," Hen said, he scoffed showing

Sumire his razor sharp fangs. " Maybe you should've curtail it out of here yourself.

Now you will suffer."

Hen thrusted both his hands together in his stomach. Sumire was sent flying towards

the trees. But before he could crash into the trees Sumire disappeared. He reappeared

in front of the trees.

" Not bad. Now it's my turn."

Sumire punched his fist into the ground. A giant fist made out of wood ripped out of

the ground and fell towards Hen. Hen disappered in a flash of blue light. Hen's speed

was now godlike. He appeared before Sumire and punched him three times in the stomach.

" Urk..."

Sumire couldn't breath. It almost felt like Hen crushed his lungs. Hen pushed Sumire against the trees. He choked him with his left hand holding him high up. Hen intended to kill him. When he opened his mouth a sharp tongue sticked out.

" _This is not the same weakling from before. There's something sealed inside this genin's heart. But what is it? It couldn't be...no, that's impossible. I must..."_

Sumire sensed a life fading not too far away. Sumire wanted to locate where the life was fading, but he couldn't move, couldn't even breath for the matter. Sumire's brain was dying. Before he died the wolf Rao jumped on his back. Before Rao could rip Hen's ear off he left go of Sumire to grab its head.

Sumire disappeared before Hen's eyes. Hen even with his newfound beast strength couldn't stop the wolf's fury. It shaked it's head out and bite his neck. Hen pushed Rao off. Hen unleashed a small ball of water around his arms ready to fight against Rao, but something happened.

" _What's this. This isn't me. I would never hurt an animal."_

_" **Do it. End this mangy wolf's miserable life. Do it now!" **_

" _No...I will not hurt him. I...I."_

Hen squeezed both side of his head. He screamed at the top of his lungs rubbing his hands against his head. Hen's body glowed blue. It was a will of fights inside of him. A fight Hen knew he could not win.

OOO

Sumire reached where the life was fading. He was too late. He was attracted by the scent of blood. Sumire followed the scent. What he found was his father. His dear father who nurtured him, protected him, and treated him like a precious child, he ripped his tachi through his intestines.

The Great Ki feasted on the blood of wood style jutsu. A sacrifice of a man who'd use wood style jutsu was the only thing that kept the forest near the Hidden Leaf Village alive. Without the Ki the entire forest would collapse, building supplies would be hampered, food would be superseded, and people would die.

Sumire walked to his father's side. Sumire held back his tears, but he couldn't hide his pain. Sumire leaned his head down and kissed his father's head. Sumire rubbed his father's head.

" Father, sometimes in order for victory to be achieved sacrifices have to be made. You though me that yourself. Whether or not I'm going to be as great of a man is unknown to me. But I..." Tears dripped out Sumire's eyes. " I love you, father."

OOO

" Aa...!" Hen was still having the battle within himself. He first clenched his fists while gritting his teeth at the same time. When that didn't help he squeezed his arms around his stomach. Nothing worked. Hen's pain was so caustic he was burning from the inside. If he had a knife, he'd slit his own throat to get rid of the man. " Rrgh!"

" **_Give in to the pain._**_" _A voice echoed inside Hen's mind. " _**Deep in your heart you know it's the only way out.**" _

" Shut up! Just leave me alone!"

_" **Don't be like that. If you give up now we can inaugurate together creating an army of ninja's of our own. Just give in too my power**!" _

" Shut up! Shut up!_ It's true. I can't stand this anymore. If this keeps up I'm going to break. I'm going to..." _Hen fell on the ground. The pain was already reaching his heart inching closer to his brain. " _I can't just let myself be erased from existence. Nobody should let themselves die. But how can I...?"_

Water rained from the sky and dripped over Hen. The water ameliorated Hen's body. He could feel his mortality starting to return. Hen tried standing up, sprained his legs the first time, but managed to stand up the second time. When Hen looked up he saw Sumire standing over him with his wife clinged to him.

" You really are just a simple genin," Sumire said staring down at Hen. " Your lucky I was here to help you."

" W-What? Why are you helping me?"

" Don't take it the wrong way. I just don't feel there's any more need to fight. My father, a great man, he believed that love was a virtue. He also use to tell me this story. Please listen to it."

" O-Okay."

The Sage of the Six Paths. Once upon a time...the Sage of the Six Paths had two children. They trained together, and grew up together, but like me and Shizen had different attitudes toward peace."

" P-Peace?"

" The older son sought strength was necessary for peace, but the younger son sought love was necessary for peace. The day the Sage of the Six Paths chose a successor, he chose the younger son, who sought for love. Enraged, the older son declared war on his brother. Their descendants continued the battle even as time marched on."

" P-Power...L-Love?"

The older brother's descendants came to be known as the Uchiha. The younger brother's the Senju. "

" Senju? Senju...you mean the clan of the first Hokage?"

" That's right. My great grandfather was Hashirama Senju, the first Hokage. Hen. I can tell you hold the Will of Fire within you. Senju and Uchiha. Will of Fire and Hatred. That girl you were protecting... the one with the red hair as well...one day you will have to fight against one of them. If you cannot win, the burden of Uchiha hatred and plans to ram that curse of hatred deep into the world. Farewell, Hen."


	24. Chapter 24

**That was a kinda anticlimactic way to end this arc. But now that we're finally down with it we can continue on with the exams. There is a three chapter pause before the action so just be ready **

Tsuchi used up all of her chakra trying to heal Shizen. All the wounds he reached by his father's blade had been healed. The only thing left was to hear him breath. But even as Tsuchi waited for the time to arise, nothing happened. Shizen was warm, she could feel his pulse, yet he didn't move a muscle.

" No, you can't be gone. Wake up. Please wake up." Tsuchi cried at the sight of Shizen not moving. To her he was gone. She lifted his chest up and hugged his body. He felt so warm in her arms. " No..."

Tsuchi flinched. Her cheeks tinted red from something touching her butt. When she looked back she saw Shizen was the one rubbing her butt, fully awake, and made a perverted face while he was rubbing Tsuchi's butt. Tsuchi was at first surprised at his actions, but then she started to boil up with anger.

" Wow, you sure have a nice plump butt. Now that I'm okay, you don't mind if I touch it, do you?"

Tsuchi smacked Shizen's right cheek. A giant red hand mark was left on his cheek. Tsuchi was boiling with anger. " I was worried about you, and this is how you repay me!? You have ruined my family's good name!"

OOO

Hen was running as fast as his little legs could move. He wanted to make sure that everyone was okay. He wanted to find Kokoro first. She was in every way important to him.

" _Please be okay. I can't let harm come to my friends. That's my ninja way." _

Hen finally found Kokoro. She was unconscious. She was surrounded by a pool of water and her body was pale. Hen dashed towards Kokoro. He fell on her chest leaning his left ear against her chest. He was listening patiently for the sound of her beating heart. But he couldn't hear that sound.

" Kokoro...?" Hen was scared. He raised his fists above his head and smacked them down. She still didn't respond. Hen tried raising his hands up again and smacked them down on her chest again, but she still didn't wake up. " Kokoro...? Oh no, Kokoro, you can't be dead. You just can't be!" Hen raised his hands together and smacked them down. It seemed horrendous. No matter how much of a jolt Hen gave her. " Kokoro...no...you can't be bead, Kokoro." You can't be dead! You can't be dead because I love you! Kokoro!"

Kokoro was gone. At least that was how Hen felt. He tried his best to protect his one friend, but he may've just lost two friends in the end. Hen couldn't bear it. Before he came to the Hidden Leaf Village he lived a lonely life with just him and his mother. He didn't expect to pass the first round, he didn't expect to learn how to control water ninjutsu, he didn't even expect he'd find such great friends there.

Hen couldn't take it. He was crying. When he cried his water ninjutsu took control of him, manipulating the tears to drip sideways and journey up to his hair. The water started forming around his hair. A giant water balloon appeared on his head. While Hen was sucking in all the pain in his heart he could then hear a faint chuckle. That faint chuckle turned too a loud laugh. Hen flinched. The person who was laughing was Kokoro.

" So you love me? I don't know. Maybe I want you to give me all your ryō before I even give you a kiss. Hahaha! I'm terrible!"

" What? Why are you-I thought you were dead. You had no pulse. How did you do that?"

" I don't know. One moment it seemed like that water ninja was going to suffocate me with her water ninjutsu, but for the strangest reason she disappeared. She also dropped something on me. I was knocked out. When I came too you were standing over me."

" Uh, so how much did you hear?"

" Ah, about everything. You shouting my name, the you saying I can't be dead, and you saying, well, you already know."

" Yeah." Hen was so embarrassed. He rubbed the back of his head and laughed. " I guess I was just caught in the moment. I like you Kokoro, but I think of you more as a friend. But I also like Shizen, Tsuchi, even Sasuke. Speaking of Shizen, where is he? Is he alright?"

" I'm right here." Shizen said. Hen and Kokoro both turned to the direction of the voice. They both flinched. Shizen had a big red mark on his face. Tsuchi was walking beside him, arms crossed, and made a big " Hmph!" through her mouth. " Did you miss me?"

" S-Shizen...what happened to you?"

" I was ah...hit by a tree."

" Yes. And now you know what happens with trees when you don't pay them any respect."

" At least trees don't smack you when things are getting hot. Hey, have any of you seen my dad? Dad?"

OOO

Sumire was jumping through the tree branch to tree branch with his wife jumping behind him. Sumire was thinking. He was thinking about his brother, his father, the Senju Clan, and most of all he was thinking about Hen.

" _That little boy. He makes me wonder?"_

**Flashback:**

_" No. I won't leave. I am bringing Shizen back to us."_

_" Oh. Why do you continue to fight me even though it's clear I'm the much better fighter? What's so great about Shizen anyways? He's a failure. A failure to his clan. What could you possibly gain from taking him?"_

_" He's my best friend."_

**Flashback End:**

" _Friend? That boy...he is filled with so much passion. He has lot's of love. I wonder..." _

Sumire stopped jumping onto the branch. His wife flinched. She tripped on the branch about to fall off, but Sumire caught her by using his chakra to stand upside down. He caught her. Sumire held her in one hand while using his other hand to use wood style jutsu. Something popped out of the branch. Sumire caught it, but he held it behind his back to surprise her.

" I never told you this but you are very dear to me. I guess I was afraid I'd look weak if I said that to you. My father is gone, my brother resents me, and I have nowhere left to live. I just..."

Sumire showed his wife what was hiding behind his back before he broke out in tears. What she found was a small wooden statue. The statue she was holding was a statue of her. A miniature her with a smile on it's face. The sight of the statue made her cry. She reached her hands around Sumire and hugged him.

" Sumire. Sumire, don't ever change."

" Yes. But I will try to make you happy. Now, where are we going to live?"


	25. Chapter 25

**I hope you find some drama in this chapter. And I hope you enjoy it. I could really use the support. And thanks for all the reviews. But please review again. **

Hen, Kokoro, Tsuchi, and Shizen were all gathered around the dead corpse of Shizen's

father. Hen and Kokoro were comforting Shizen as he cried over his father's body.

Tsuchi just stood against the tree watching them.

" Daddy..." Shizen cried, his hands over his face trying to hide his sad face.

" It's okay, Shizen," Hen comforted his green haired friend. " It's okay. It's okay.

We're here for you."

" Yes, we're always with you, Shizen," Kokoro comforted Shizen. " Just stay with us.

It's what your father would've wanted."

" _I don't understand,"_ Tsuchi thought. "_Why are they crying? Someone's_

dead; there's nothing they can do to fix that. My dad taught me never to cry, never,

over someon's death."

Watching Shizen cry made Hen cry. Hen wiped a single tear from his eyes." We can stay

here for just a little white longer if you like, Shizen. I know if my mother died I

would want to be with her as much as possible. You too should have as much time as you

like."

" No...don't." Shizen brushed everyone off. He moved away from them. " I just want to

go home."

" Shizen..."

" Ehm!" Kokoro coughed. " Sorry if I'm intruding with you two or anything. But we

really should be getting back. It's going to be dark soon and it would be impossible

to find our way in the dark."

" Kokoro's right. We really should be getting back. Come on, Shizen."

" You guys go ahead."

" What?"

" I have a bit of thinking I still need to do. I'll be with you guys shortly."

" Shizen, it's not safe to wander alone at night. You'll never be able to make it back

by yourself."

" I'll stay with him," Tsuchi said. " In case he can't see at night..." Tsuchi

snapped her fingers. Small flames burned through her fingers. " I can always provide a

torch."

" Your really going to take Shizen all the way home?"

" Not all the way. Just until we reach a safe area then I'll let him go by himself. I

need to report back to my daddy about the situation."

" Okay. So Kokoro and I will go on ahead." Hen and Kokoro disappeared. They both

reappared on top of tree branches. Hen waved to Shizen. " Stay safe, Shizen."

Hen and Kokoro both jumped from branch to branch towards their house near the Hidden

Leaf Village.

They were gone. When they were gone Tsuchi walked towards Shizen. He was standing let

alone walking. He walked limply towards the woods, but he slipped and fell on his

hands. Shizen was whencing.

" Why...?" Shizen groaned. " Why did you have to leave me? I never even got the chance

to prove my worth to you."

" Quit crying," Tsuchi said.

" Huh?"

" Your a ninja? What is your Ninja Way? Is your ninja way to cry like a sad puppy? Is

it your ninja way to look so apathetic? Even if you're just a simple Genin, stop

sniveling."

" I-I can't. Th-The pain...it hurts so much."

" Pain? You really want to talk to me about pain? I've seen many people slaughtered in

my life. But if I just stayed there crying like you more people would've died. If you

cry at the loss of only one comrade, you don't deserve to be a ninja."

" No...I must be a ninja. I lost everything just to get a chance."

" _Though what I'm saying may be a little harsh, he's going to need it. A true_

_ninja doesn't let what anyone says get the better of them. They need to endure things_

_for themselves. There's a special kind of chakra hidden inside this boy. All he just_

_needs to do is find it."_

" I already lost my father and my mother. I don't have anyone. The only thing I can

have now is...is...my friends. And right now my friends are waiting for me back at

home. So why don't you take me there."

" _There it is. That's the spirit I'm looking for. That's what I like to see._

_Okay, better start moving."_

Tsuchi grabbed Shizen's arm and jumped on a tree branch. She jumped from branch to

branch towards the house. Under the moonlight, where Shizen couldn't see him, she

smiled.

OOO

" Mizu!" Hen shouted with glee. He held his small hands out as Mizu jumped on him.

Mizu started licking Hen's face while making whimping noise's at the same time. "

Okay, okay, Mizu, that's enough. I miss you too, boy."

" I hope I'm not intruding with your fun, Hen, but what are you going to do about that

dog?"

" Huh? What do you mean?"

" I mean when we're away tomorrow are you going to put him in a kennel or are you

going to release him into the wild."

" Why can't I just leave him at home. He seems house trained enough."

" It's never a good idea to keep a dog by themselves."

" Why?"

" Because...because...dog's stink."

" Rowf!"

" They lick themselves, they dig, th-they shed their fur everywhere, and their all

loud. I don't want that dog in this house by itself."

" Then why can't we just hire a dog sitter or something? There should be plenty of

them around."

" We can't afford one. All our ryo goes into our own expenses. Not a single ryo is for

this dog."

" Come on, Kokoro. Show some compasion for once. I'm sure there's plenty of dog

sitter's."

" But it's too late to contact one now. Where would we even start? It's the kennel.

We're putting that dog in the kennel and that's that."

" Fine. We'll put him in the kennel. I hate being the shortest ninja."

" And you look like a girl."

" Yeah, I hate that too. Tomorrow's a test. I'm going to do a little bit of reading

before I go to sleep."

" Wouldn't you'd rather sleep with me?" Kokoro showed Hen her smooth, skinny legs. She

stroked them with her fingers up and down trying to arouse him. " I get so cold at

night. I could use the heat of a man to keep me warm. Wouldn't you'd like to keep me

warm, Hen."

Thing's were getting hot on Hen's face. Hen couldn't help but stare-her legs, her

arms, her neck, and her lips-he just wanted to kiss it all. Hen walked up to Kokoro,

but she stuffed a ricecracker in his mouth and laughed.

" You should've seen the look on your face! You are so easy."

Hen pulled the rice cracker out of his mouth and cried." It's not funny."

" Oh, come on. Lighten up. We are still just kids. And we wouldn't be kids if we

didn't know how to have fun. Don't you ever have fun, Hen?"

The door opened. Standing in the doorway was Shizen. He looked more dead than alive.

The once cheerful Shizen was sulken, his hair was soaked, and he looked thin in their

eyes. Mizu sniffed Shizen and backed away from him.

" Hey Shizen," Kokoro said. " Good to have you back. How was your time with Tsuchi?"

" Fine," Shizen said shortly in a not so sure tone. " Couldn't be better. I'm going to

bed."

" Are you sure. It's only eight. Shouldn't you study a little for the exams."

" I just want to go to bed. Please let me sleep."

" Okay. Hen and I am going to cook lunch for tomorrow. We'll make a bigger lunch for

you."

" Great. Goodnight."

Shizen disappeared. Hen and Kokoro were left alone. Kokoro smiled at Hen and crawled

to him. Hen blushed when Kokoro rested her head on his lap. She smiled.

" Can you please rub my head."

" Huh? Why?"

" I have problem's sleeping on my bed. And your legs are so soft. I could get use to

your lap pillows."

" Eh, okay."

Five minutes passed. Kokoro seemed to be asleep. She snored soundly through her mouth.

For some reason Kokoro reminded Hen of someone. Hen however moved her head off his

laps.

" Sorry, but I have work I need to do."

" Rowf!" Mazu barked.

" Mazu, good boy. Keep Kokoro company." Mazu tilted his head back and forth. He didn't

understand him. " Okay. How about this." Hen pulled out a small biscuit he got from

the pet shop. He placed the biscuit next to Kokoro." Go get it. Go get the biscuit,

boy."

" Rowf!"

Mazu ran up to Kokoro, wagging his tail, and ate the biscuit. When Mazu tried running

away Kokoro grabbed him in her dream state. She squeezed the dog with all her

strength. Kokoro squeezed Mazu with all her strength.

" Hikaru," Kokoro said in her sleep. She hugged Mazu with all her strength. " Hikaru.

Hikaru, I love you. Hikaru."

" _Who's Hikaru? Is he Kokoro's brother? But she never said anything about having_

_siblings. Don't tell me Hikaru is her..."_

" Hikaru..."

" _Of course. Who was I kidding? I bet whoever this Hikaru is she cares about_

_him. I just wish...I could tell met this Hikaru."_

OOO

Shizen was having troubles sleeping. He tossed and turned in his bed. Shizen was

sweating as he recalled the events that took place. Finally, he awoke.

" Ah!"

Shizen woke up. His face was covered entirely with sweat. Shizne panted roughly while

holding his heart. The heart was the spot where he was stabbed. Shizen kept his

fingers against that spot.

" Am I going to have troubles sleeping every night? What did Mom used to say about

this. She said we're all seeds. And just like seeds..." Shizen got up and ran to a

sink. " We need water."

Shizen turned the tap. The water ran out of the nozzle. Shizen's hand were filled with

water. Shizen splashed the water over his face. He was drowning his pain with the

water.

Shizen's face was red from all the stress. Shizen was panting from his mouth. He

looked at his reflection in the mirror. Shizen's fingers were still drizzled with

water.

" Peace. Think of peace. Always think of what your mother said. Peace."

Shizen rubbed his fingers on the mirror. After writing what he needed he turned the

light off. Shizen slouched to his bed. He laid on the bed and drifted off into his

sleep. The letter he had written on the mirror:

평 (peace)


End file.
